Ice Dental, Blyth

Background

For about ten years Clare Wright used to drive through the village of Blyth on her way to work at an NHS practice in Doncaster. Waiting at the T-junction by the village green, Clare would gaze idly at the derelict building across the road and think about how it would be a great location for a dental practice.

Clare qualified from Sheffield University in 1995 and joined a busy practice in Doncaster town centre straight away. The principle dentist was, she says, a very forward thinking man, a respected implantologist and dental entrepreneur. He clearly had a great influence on her. Very sadly he died of cancer and the practice that had been so vibrant was taken over by a corporate body. For Clare, it was never the same again.

“It made up my mind that I wanted to have my own practice and run it my own way.”

Now all she had to work out was how to make this dream become a reality.

Solution

She thought again of the little building in the pretty village of Blyth and set about trying to buy it. The building, once a school house and a parish council meeting room, was owned by the Church of England. Apart from a renovated slate roof outside, inside it was just a shell with no floor, ceiling or internal walls.

Clare’s original plan was to set up and run an NHS practice in Blyth. But she came up against a big stumbling block.

“I had always been an NHS dentist and assumed I always would be. I went along to my PCT with all my plans and ideas and I was just turned down flat. I left that meeting in tears. I just assumed my dream of starting up my own practice was over.”

But as luck would have it, at about this time, Clare heard about payment plans. She contacted two different companies. The first call was to Practice Plan. Clare remembers it wasn’t a successful conversation:

“They were just too busy to talk. I wasn’t impressed and assumed I’d get the same treatment in the future.”

“My next call, however, was to DPAS. The company was excellent from day one, coming out to visit me at home initially and later on helping to train the team. It also offered invaluable financial advice. I knew I was about to embark on a massive transition but looking back it really flowed without a problem.”

With DPAS’ support, Clare could move ahead with her plans, choosing surgery equipment and software. In the meantime, the building work was finished in around six months. The little Grade Two-listed building in Blyth gained an extension which would become the patient reception suite and three rooms were fitted out as surgeries – with room for a fourth in the future.

Benefits

Today the practice is known as ‘Ice Dental’. When it opened in January 2006, Clare says it ‘hit the ground running’, with nearly 700 of her former patients from Doncaster staying true to their word and following her to Blyth. With the help of a local mail shot and word of mouth recommendations, the practice has grown from here. Today, ice dental has nearly 2,500 patients, almost 90 percent of whom are on a DPAS dental payment plan.

To begin with, ice dental opened with Clare (as principle), a nurse and a receptionist (both of whom came with her from the old Doncaster surgery). Within three months a second dentist and dental therapist joined the team. Since then, the practice has expanded so quickly that a further part-time dentist has joined along with a second therapist.

“I am just so glad that I now have the freedom to provide a service as it should be provided. I wish I’d done this years ago.”

Clare has the following advice to dentists considering converting: “Have faith in your patients; they will follow you.... Focus on yourself and your patients. It’s the only way to go.”

To find out more about the Ice Dental conversion and how DPAS can help you with starting your own Payment Plans in your new private practice then please visit www.dpas.co.uk or call us on 01747 870910.