UK Dentistry 2011 Update

My recent update on UK Dentistry - i hope you find it useful!
best
arun

The Show Must Go On!

For those of all the Samera and Neem Tree team that made it to our Christmas Bash - well done for overcoming the snow - it was a fantastic evening and great to catch up with you all! As they say, the show must go on - with or without snow!

For those that did not make it, we missed you all, and you missed a great evening!

Have a great Xmas and New Year and i hope you all manage to get away to your loved ones!

Arun

Humbled...

“Sitting by the bedside, 12 hours a day, watching flashing monitors and colourful machines – assessing performance, touching, caring, prodding, whenever required….that is a day in the life of an ICU paedaetric nurse.

Sometimes forgotten, amongst the other heros, the paedaetric ICU nurse, is someone very special, that one must respect and praise, because without their care and love, many of our children would not be here today.

Thank you to all the ICU nurses for caring for my aashima and all the other sick children around the world, without you, our lives would not quite be the same.”

Groupon...myth or magic?

In the last 12 months the Group On (http://www.groupon.co.uk/) phenomenon has hit the UK, and most importantly UK dentistry. Virtually every second day, I receive my groupon email with a different dental practice offering a hugely discounted check-up, whitening, hygiene and even lingual orthodontics.

Even my team have asked me why are we not using Groupon in The Neem Tree.

One of my clients signed up to Groupon early on, and did well ( he negotiated a good %), whilst others I know said they would not do it again, after their first attempt. Groupon take anything between 30-50% of the advertised price, so after all this, there really is not much left.

The aim of Groupon is to tempt the customers who come for the deal, to take up more services, but in my opinion, many of these such discount searching customers are unlikely to take up the additional services, since they probably don't have the resources. They are just deal hunting, and unlikely to come back 6 months later for a full price check up when they can get another super deal from Group On elsewhere. Such customers are not in for building your patient goodwill, they are just deal hunters.

Groupon may bring an increase in the volume of patients, but all too often it brings a type of customer that may just be very difficult and cause far too much hassle for you and your team.

For restaurants and bars wanting to sell a few more cocktails on the evening, I personally feel Group On may work, but for a dental practice selling a professional service - one does have to question it!

There are many much better marketing techniques available to dentists, rather than jumping on the Group -On bandwagon, it makes sense to get back to the essential basics of marketing...for help see www.samerastudio.com.

We can also learn from the US on the Group On phenomenon, just look at some of these links which make interesting reading - not positive for dentists planning to use Group-on.

http://www.tysonsteele.com/posts/display/is-groupon-just-a-put-on

http://www.screenwerk.com/2010/06/11/groupon-sure-but-is-it-sustainable/

So in summary would I use Group On? No, I feel for our business model, it just isn't financially viable for our practice, there are many other better marketing avenues that will have a much more desirable effect.

No doubt Group-On is a phenomenon, but mostly for the owners of this clever business!

November 9th

Aashima's big day is November 9th.

This will be the day she undergoes her rastelli procedure. At the moment she is looking fantastic and the picture of great health. She is attending nursery, causing lots of trouble and being what a 2 year old should be!

On the face of it, she looks like a normal petite 2 year old girl, however as with many CHD (congential heart defects) children, its her little heart inside that is causing both her and us the pain.

Only last week we were back at the Brompton Hospital, and I was wondering does she really need the big op? To me she looks fine, but in my own heart, i know she needs it to give her the best chance of living a full life.

She knows that she has a heart problem but is completely unaware of the impending heart surgery.

I wake up most days (smita does too) thinking about this big day as it draws closer.....There is not much we can do, so we try to block out the impending event by keeping ourselves busy with other things....but it is always lingering there.

When the big day comes, i really am dreading signing the release form, and then holding her down to administer the GA.

According to her cardiologist, she will be home within 10 days!!! I truly pray this will turn out be routine rastelli, so we can all have some fun!

CQC

https://www.registration.cqc.org.uk/datacollection/welcomePage.htm

If you have not already, pre-registration enrollment for CQC ends tomorrow. Details at the url above. Not obilgatory to do by tomorrow but they are encouraging all dentists to sign up by tomorrow for pre-registration!

More red tape!!

Aashima

Yesterday was a huge day in our world. The day we met the surgical team at the Royal Brompton for my daughter Aashima. We had been waiting to meet with them to see what they were going to say.....

Two years back Aashima was born with various major congenital heart problems, she had 2 operations at her birth, but we knew that was a just a temporary fix, and in fact the big fix would have to occur sooner rather than later.

That big fix is now due to happen later this year, in October or November, and to be honest I have never been more scared of anything in my life. Yes, you heard that right, I am scared.....shitless. Not much fazes me, except concern for my children.

She has lived a really full 2 years bringing so much joy to us all, but now very soon she must undergo major open heart surgery so she can continue living life to the max!

We have done our research, spoken to doctors, and we know she is one of the best places to have the surgery, but open heart surgery on a 2 year old is not fun.

The planned procedure to be carried out is called a Rastelli procedure and is a 7-9 hour operation, whereby the heart will be stopped and she will be put onto a Heart-Lung Machine. If all goes well (which it will) she will be out of hospital after 10 -14 days. Part of the procedure involves putting in a conduit into her heart, this will require replacing later in life too.

Aashima and my wonderful Parus are my inspiration. They are everything to me. I do feel very blessed with everything and everyone I have in my life, but to take my daughter and allow for open heart surgery to be carried out on her is a responsibility i thought i would never have to face. But those are the cards i have been dealt with, and now I must play the game to win, for the sake of my wonderful daughter, Aashima.

Finally, if anyone reading this blog knows of anyone who has undergone the Rastelli procedure ( i know it is very rare indeed) please can they contact me directly on arun@samera.co.uk