How joining Denplan has given us back control

Published: 07/05/2021

By Richard Alexander, Greenlaw Dental Care

Many of our members thought about joining Denplan for a long time before taking the leap. Most haven’t looked back since joining us.

Dentist Richard Alexander, who owns Greenlaw Dental Care in Paisley with his wife Eilidh Craig, talks about how last year’s first coronavirus lockdown was an accelerator to change tack after six decades as a family NHS practice in Scotland and their journey since joining Denplan six months ago. 

Why we wanted to change

Dentistry as a profession has been hammered by COVID and for us it was probably the most stressful time we will ever go through. There were so many things that were highlighted by the first lockdown last year. When things run well and it is profitable you go about your daily routine, but the pandemic has really made us reassess what we wanted for our practice and our patients.

We thought about the level of and access to care we wanted to provide and the preventive treatment we wanted to make available to our patients. Suddenly joining Denplan was something that was quite an easy decision to make. For us to now be with Denplan and be in control and in a position where we can affect those changes instead of being dictated to by someone else, has been so important for us.

How Denplan supported our transition

Denplan’s support has been invaluable. It has been such an easy change, we keep thinking why we haven’t done it before.

Our Business Development Consultant Heather McMillan has supported us all the way. Denplan’s investment in our practice to ‘learn the ropes’ as we transitioned has been essential to me and the whole team. When change has to happen it is so vital to have all our staff on board. Joining Denplan includes training, support and access to their vast resources, which has made the transition much more straightforward for all of us.

All the training we have done has been great and it has really brought us together and made us feel part of the wider Denplan community. Also knowing there is a consultant to go to, customer service teams at the head office and an online portal with resources has been so reassuring for us in a period of transition.

How patients got on board

More than 100 patients signed up to Denplan in the first three months, with numbers growing every day. We have had such positive feedback. Patients have understood there has been a change in service and system. Now being on Denplan they have enjoyed the extra time they have with us and the treatment a payment plan allows them. Some patients have been coming to us for decades. They know us and trust our clinical judgement. By being open and honest, and explaining why Denplan is so important for them as patients and our practice has really been understood. Some patients had been asking for payment plans and now have been given the option and they really appreciate that.

Because we signed up to Denplan Plus, we’ve also been able to waive the patient registration fee, which we noticed it gave us the ability to ramp up the growth even more. As a clinician, to be able to have an open discussion with patients about what their clinical options are that is not regulated by any NHS restrictions has been quite liberating. 

Podcast 

Denplan’s Director of Group Sales, Pam Whelan, recently spoke more in-depth with Richard Alexander about this journey of transitioning to us in our Dental Podcast series, including more about the freedoms it’s given him and his clinical team, as well as some of the differences Scottish practices are facing. You can listen to this episode and all our other podcasts here.

You can join us too

If you’d like to find out more about joining us, being part of our new Denplan Plus membership or how we can support your practice’s needs speak to your Business Development Consultant or contact us on 0800 328 3223.