New Dental Practice

Toothsmith

Some practices round here put in prices of initial examinations.

I've never objected to it, even though they're normally cheaper than me!

It's true that a new-start might get a little more scrutiny from local colleagues, and so a complaint might be forthcoming, but so long as you're not OTT about it, I would be very surprised if it went any further than a "Don't do it again" from the GDC.

I agree that it's frustrating that you can't compare yourselves favourably to NHS practices - but then, I would guess that the vast majority of your target market woke up to the 'shortcomings' of NHS dentistry quite some time ago!

Biggles

maka wrote: »

|Hi toothsmith just double checked this with my partner who is at uni for her dental nurse and practice manager course and she had a talk on tuesday just gone from the GDC and she asked them then, they also said you can not say you are better or even say it is easier to get an appt through us than the NHS. its a pain you really cant say much.

No, you can't make comparisons with a nearby practice, that's the equivalent of running them down. But you can say what you can do, so it's not true to say 'you can't say much', you can actually say a great deal.

So you can't say you're cheaper. But you can state your prices, and I'm sure you can also state the NHS prices (as they aren't secret!), then people can work it out for themselves.

And you can't say you can get an appointment easier than the Fred Bloggs Practice. But you can say 'You can get an appointment easily here', 'New patients welcomed' etc etc.

And you can't say you give better treatment or a wider range of services. But you can give an idea of the range of treatments you give, especially any that you specialise in.

As Frank Carson used to say, "It's the way you tell 'em".