‘It dawned on me this week that our morning ‘huddles’ here at Pure have gone distinctly downhill… although we still huddle every morning, sometimes we are 1 or 2 team members short, and we have stopped using our formal template. Suddenly there is no focus or direction to our morning meetings; and so we need to get back on track. We normally allow about 15-20 minutes for our huddles and all team members should be present, no excuses. It is a good idea to develop a standard template that should cover the following issues;

New Patients – are there any NP’s in today? What are their key issues? Who is going to be the NP champion?

Are there any nervous patients in today? What can we do to make their experience more relaxed and comfortable?

Any other patients that may require our special care or attention?

Any oral surgery booked today? Emergency drugs/equipment readily available?

Do we have all the required lab-work?

Are there any gaps in the appointment book? Can we use these for emergencies? How can we fill these?

Any OPG x-rays required?

Does the Treatment Coordinator have any patients? Do these require a dentist ‘pop-in’?

Check team rota for the day – lunchtime cover?

Are all necessary patient treatment consent forms in place?

Who is on patient lounge duty?

Any patient queries or concerns from yesterday?

All equipment working correctly?

Any finance applications today?

Do we have all the materials we need?

Any worries or concerns?
Lots of valid points to cover? Yes. Can this be done on 15 minutes? Yes, absolutely it can. Stay focused, go through the huddle template systematically with the team and make sure everyone particiaptes and that all points are raised.

The Morning Huddle is an essential start to an efficient and effective working day. Huddles nip any potential problems in the bud and they are a vital part of good team communication. Most importantly perhaps, Huddles ensure that all patients receive optimum patient care when they come into your practice.

I have started filing my completed daily templates; in terms of CQC compliance, this provides an audit trail to show a daily commitment to patient care through team discussion & communication. We will be ‘Huddling’ again as from today!’

Every Monday Nikki Berryman – our Business Development Manager at Pure Dental – posts about her plans and experiences from the past week.

‘On Friday I was chatting to a friend on the phone about the team here at Pure and talking about what makes a great team. So I thought I would start the week by publicly acknowledging my team of girls at Pure Dental.

Any practice owner and/or manager will understand the importance of having a great team; as they will no doubt have had experience of working in an environment where the team is unhappy or dysfunctional (haven’t we all?) and have realised how problematic this can be in a small business.

Let me tell you how I feel about the girls. They are smart, funny, loyal, hardworking, caring, they genuinely love our patients, they ‘get the job done’, they don’t bitch, they smile, they are motivated, they ask questions, they want to be involved. I am a manager who absolutely understands and ‘gets’ the fact that our fabulous practice wouldn’t be where it is without our ‘Team’.

Thank you girls!’

Every Monday Nikki Berryman – our Business Development Manager at Pure Dental – posts about her plans and experiences from the past week.

‘Is it just me or does it feel like you, as a PM,  are constantly just chasing your tail?

I was lucky enough to visit Belfast last Friday to speak at the Ultimate Practice Managers’ workshop with Laura Horton. One of my sessions was on ‘Effective Time Management’ and it transpired that many PMs feel the same.

We are pulled in all directions. The demands on our time by dentists, our team, suppliers, HTM01-05, CQC, patients, finance, marketing, equipment, IT, TCO…blah blah, the list goes on. Is it any wonder then that 80% of stress-related illnesses in the workplace are due to poor time management?

The key thing here I think is working out what is a ‘demand’, what is ‘necessary’, what is ‘urgent or important’, what can be delegated and what is a distraction.
Do you have a ‘to do’ list? Do you have workstreams for bigger projects? How well do you delegate?

One of the simplest things that you can do to manage your time more effectively is to write a ‘to do’ list, prioritise your tasks and build in distraction time.
Try it today and you will be amazed at how much more organised and focused you become.’

Every Monday Nikki Berryman – our Business Development Manager at Pure Dental – posts about her plans and experiences from the past week.

‘Morning All! It’s a very quick update from me as this week is going to be really busy!

Today, we have Jem Patel and his team from JSP Media at Pure to film footage for a new practice video for our website. I’m really looking forward to this, we’ve had great feedback about Jem and the videos he has produced for other practices always look great.

I am also in the process of re-writing the text for our new website which is due to be launched in about 2 weeks; and my key focus here will be making sure the dialogue is as patient-friendly as possible, no ‘dentist’ speak allowed!

On Thursday I will be flying to Belfast to give a Practice Management presentation to the lovely folk in NI along with Laura Horton, which I am really looking forward to.

Phew Is it Friday yet??’

Every Monday Nikki Berryman – our Business Development Manager at Pure Dental – posts about her plans and experiences from the past week.

‘Hope you all enjoyed a relaxing Easter break and spent some down time with friends and family.

I had a lovely weekend filled with a little work but lots of fun! Friday night was spent catching up with a very old school friend Geri and her partner Jez, whose wedding I’m going to in a few weeks – much gossip, laughter and wine, the best of nights!

Saturday saw another visit to the hairdressers to be pampered and then a night out with our friends Sara & Grant for an Indian and more fun.

Easter Sunday was the ‘hen-night’ of our Clinic Manager, Olivia, and as you can imagine, I don’t think we stopped laughing & dancing all night…

So, Monday?? Well, Monday was recovery and relaxation. Today back at Pure, rejuvenated, refreshed and ready for another great week with the Team…’