UK Dental Services Market Trends

Introduction

Managing dental service is one of the critical aspects in the health and social care context, where the team members need to cooperate with each other and enhance their performnace (Dharmani, 2018). In this regard, it is necessary for the organisations to develop an effective team in providing dental services to the social communities with proper practice. The aim of the essay is to understand the UK market trend of dental services as well as acknowledge the marketing strategic planning through which the organisation can attract more patients for their services, along with insights gained from healthcare dissertation help.

Reviewing the Market

In the recent era of globalisation, the market for dental services in the UK is rising rapidly where the dental care managing organisations are efficient to provide better and latest innovative treatment to the patients for maximising their wellbeing. The surgical dental service market was estimated at ₤1.70 billion in the year of 2016 and it is growing rapidly and the hospitals with dental care facilities generate 60% revenue in the UK market (Carausu et al., 2018). As per the figure above, it has been estimated that, in the year of 2016, total value in the UK dental service market was ₤8.48 billion and it is estimated that, in 2020, it would be approximately ₤14.45 billion. Hereby, it can be stated that, the demand for dental services across the UK is increasing rapidly where the patients need efficient treatment, surgery and proper care from the health and social care professionals through which they can overcome their dental problems successfully. In this regard, it is important for the dental care organisation to develop effective strategic planning for attracting the patients in the UK and gain highly competitive advantage over other health care service providers so that it is possible to generate profitability and secure future sustainable development by strengthening their patient’s base.

SWOT analysis

Strategies of attracting the patients

It is important for the dental care organisation to develop effective strategic planning to Attract the patients in the UK market so that they can strengthen their patient’s base which is important for securing future sustainable development. In this regard, the organisation needs to hire efficient nurses and clinical staff for managing the patient in the UK. Investing in infrastructure development and new machineries and technological upgradation for making the organisation digital will be effective for the firm to attract more patients. Social media advertisement is one of the latest strategies for attracting the patient where the organisational representative promotes the dental services through providing adequate information regarding the service, management strategy at the hospital, patient’s safety and security as well as price of the treatment (Gheorghiu et al., 2018). This information is relevant for attracting the patient through social media which can play a crucial role as two-way communication where the patients can interact directly with the organisational staff. Apart from that, it is necessary to promote the organisation through television advertisement where the brad visibility can be improved, and the patients can identify the quality dental care services at the UK market (Wu, Dong, and Soussamian, 2018). Promoting the services with relevant content related to presence of air conditioning, ventilation, heating and lighting, as well as protective eyecare facilities through using goggles during the treatment are effective to retain more patients for the quality care and dental service at the hospital. In order to improve the quality of the health and social care service in the organisation, it is necessary to establish internal standards by executing policies and practice for high quality care. In this context, the practice of the organisations focuses on providing dental care to all the patients with consistent and quality service, the policies and procedures executed properly in the hospital where the staff members are efficient to provide efficient care and quality treatment to take care of the patients and create values for all the individuals. In addition to these, the staff members try to share all the information with the patients for better understanding so that every patient can access their care and treatment as per their informed choice and decision via leaflets where the hospital managers share their cost of treatment and the patient can have the opportunity to choose the treatment as per their health needs and affordability. In this regard, the treatment form includes the cost form and consent form of the patient and the patients need to submit medical history so that the staff and professionals can assess the patients and diagnosis as per their past records and physical health condition. The staff members in the hospitals also take care of confidentiality of managing the patient’s data where cloud computing and implementing the general data protection act 1998 are effective to protect the personal information of the patients (Wu, Dong, and Soussamian, 2018). This further provides a scope to improve safety and security of the patient where the individuals are feeling free to discuss and share their personal information. In order to manage the quality of care and maintain the quality standard by the quality care commission, the hospitals are also taking care of infection control policies and practice at the hospital to maintain safety and hygiene at the place.

In the dental care management, the presence of clinical staff is one of the strengths through which the hospitals can enhance their performance and improve the quality of care during providing treatment and care to the patients. In this regard, qualification, experience of the staff and competencies are the success factors that are contributing in providing better care and efficient treatment to all the patients successfully, where they can ensure patient’s safety and security during the treatment. The recruitment procedure is also effective where the management team ensures that all the staff have clinical expertise and their good character, field experience and competencies are effective to enhance the overall performance of the hospital in promoting patient’s safety (Gheorghiu et al., 2018). The staff members get proper induction and training program where the senior team provides all the necessary information to the staff and it is posisbel to share their experience and work collaboratively by sharing knowledge and technological skill. This further helps to improve the quality of care at the hospital where the clinical expertise in dental care management and treatment will provide an opportunity to treat each patient with care and deliver quality treatment as per their health condition and needs. In order to manage the quality of care, the hospital ensures to assess, monitor and improve their service to enable the team members to acknowledge any welfare, safety and quality risks at the hospital. The infection control audits and record keeping are another approach of the hospital through which the staff members try to manage their quality at the hospital, where computerised data and information are effective to monitor the progress and identify any issues for better development in near future. In addition to this, feedback management is another strategy through which it is possible for the managers and the staff members to conduct survey among the patients and gather feedback from them to understand the progress and the quality of the hospital in providing care and appropriate treatment to the patient. Verbal complaint is one of the ways to gather feedback in which the individuals say their problems and share experience with the staff politely and the receptionist try to gather information and take verbal complaints so that it is possible to resolve the existing issues successfully (Wu, Dong, and Soussamian, 2018). Complaints policy and providing feedback form to the patient or their family members is effective to gather experience of the patients int he hospital and through the feedback form, it is posisbel to acknowledge actual needs and preferences of the patients and it gives an opportunity to the patients to develop efficient strategy to resolve the issues and create values for all the patients. Receiving complaints through feedback from as well as customer’s verbal complaints are effective for the hospital to gather experience and improve the organisational practice fir future. Additionally, if there is delay of improving services, the patients will be conformed for such delay with proper information and explanation, where the primary aim of the hospital staff is to manage the patients with care and resolve the existing problems as per the feedback from the patients. Proper investigating, training and service improvement are the effective strategic planning through which the hospital staff and professionals try to crate values for the patients by delivering efficient treatment and quality care according to the patient’s health needs and personal preferences (Villa, and Akintoye, 2018).

Learning from the complaints as well as resolving the problems to enhance the service quality is the major strategy of the hospital to manage the efficient dental care service and treatment where all the staff try to gather experience and make effective discussion over meetings and suggestions are made for better performnace. In this regard, through implementing the policies and practice, the staff members try to manage patient’s safety and security as well as the hospital ensures openness and honesty where all the patients are treated well. Managing transparency and accountability is another effective strategy to create values for the patients where the management team of the hospital aims at treating all the patients fairly by maintaining hospital protocols and procedure to deliver high quality dental care and treatment as per the health needs and personal preferences of the patients. In this case, another crucial strategy of the hospital is to empower the patient during developing care plan where the parents are informed with all the necessary information about the care plan, treatment, medication and supporting phase for the patients so that the patient can have clear and concise knowledge and understanding about the treatment provided to them. All the treatment options and plans are given to the patients from which they can select proper treatment as per their affordability and the freedom to choose appropriate care plan will be helpful to crate string relationship, trust and loyalty with the patients where the patients can rely on the staff members of the hospitals. The young person aged 15 years and above give their own consent form and otherwise for the children, their parents are involved in the care plan and confirming the consent form.

Communicating the decision verbally with the patients and their family members is also necessary for improving the quality care of the hospital and in this context the care professionals are concerned in keeping the record of the patients as well as deal the patients everyday with care. This well led practice and efficiency of the hospital system are useful to manage the patient successfully. In this regard, the decision made for the patients are also communicated with the family members and also with the patient so that with their consent, it is posisbel to treat the patients. The hospital ensures that the communicated treatment and continuous engagement will be established well where the patients will be treated with latest technology and quality care. Additionally, the staff members are efficient to contribute positively and meet their professional roles and responsibilities at the hospital. Efficiency of the members and doctors as well as the safety at the hospital further caret values for the patients where the patients feel safe to stay and be treated well.

Financing is another effective way to manage the dental treatment and retain the patients for quality care of the hospital. It is necessary to review the pricing and funding strategy of NHS so that it is posisbel to improve the strategic planning of the hospital for providing quality care at effective cost of treatment. The NHS dental contract has been implemented in the year of 2006 where it is designed for the dentists to work collaboratively to target an units of dental activity (UDA’s) and also of orthodontist units of orthodontic activities (UOA’s). In this regard, NHS focuses on oral health which is very important to keep and maintain the health of guns, teeth, and reduce the dental pain as per the clinical opinion of the dentists. In the NHS, the dental care us available for those who can pay and also for the people who can have access of treatment with free of charge. The children under 18 years of age and under the full-time education do not have to pay for dental treatment at NHS and there are low income class and pregnant mothers who also can access the service at NHS at free of cost. There are tax credit exemption card including the income support, income-based job seeker allowances, pension credit guarantee credit and support allowance who can access the dental service and treatment at the NHS at free of cost.

On the other hand, £22.70 is charged for examinations, diagnosis, x-ray of the teeth and scale, polishing and planning and advice. Treatment such as filling, root canal treatment and removing teeth can be covered by the charge of £61.20. Additionally, £269.30 is covered by all the above-mentioned treatment as well as including other complex procedures such as dentures bridges and crowns. Whereas, private dental care hospitals are charging approximately £33 for check-up and initial treatment such as polishing and planning, scaling or diagnosing. Hereby, it can be seen that, the private hospitals are charging higher as compared to the cost of treatment at NHS. The private hospitals are able to empower the patients and manage patient’s safety and security more efficiently as compared to the NHS. In addition to these, the availability of treatment, care plan and security are much more efficient than NHS. The patients are involved well in the private care plan and safety and security, proper information shared with the patients and undated technology and efficient treatment with the expert clinical staff are advantageous for the patient to get quality care and efficient dental treatment according to their health needs and personal preferences.

Local outreach activities

Local outreach activities are relevant in this regard to promote the dental service and engage with the local communities as a whole where they can involve in social campaigning and attract more patients successfully. In this regard, oral health education in school plays a crucial role for promoting the dental services where the health care professionals attend the school and arrange program for the student for free advice to get efficient dental care. In addition to this, social campaign at the UK market is also effective strategy where the organisational representatives arrange a program for sharing information related to the dental services, safety and security that they provide to each patient and the ways to create values for all the patients. The information sharing and direct interaction with the local communities are playing an important role in promoting the dental care service at the locality. On the other hand, it is also possible to provide leaflets to the pedestrians, care homes and local health care centres as well as different shop at the local UK market where they can share proper information regarding the dental care service, the discounts and opportunities that they provide to the patients.

Conclusion

It can be stated that, promoting the dental care service through developing local outreach program is effective for the dental service care providers to retain more patients at the locality and enhance their performance and it will contribute in achieving high market share in such an era of global competitive dental care market across the UK. Through providing leaflets, promoting the service through social media and television, as well as providing free advice through arranging different programs at the care home, schools and beside the locality where the social communities can get proper information about the benefits of health and social care service that they can get from the dental care institution.

Reference List

Carausu, E.M., Dascalu, C.G., Lupu, I.C., Burlea, L.S., Feier, R.D. and Zegan, G., 2018. Marketing in Dentistry: Opinion Survey on Promotion of the Dental Office. Revista de Cercetare si Interventie Sociala, 63, p.346.

Dharmani, C.K.K., 2018. Management of children with special health care needs (SHCN) in the dental office. Journal of Medical Society, 32(1), p.1.

Gheorghiu, I.M., Mitran, L., Mitran, M., Iliescu, A.A., Scărlătescu, S. and Perlea, P., 2018. Private dental care and medical marketing. ORL. ro, (39).

Villa, A. and Akintoye, S.O., 2018. Dental management of patients who have undergone oral cancer therapy. Dental Clinics, 62(1), pp.131-142.

Wu, S., Dong, L. and Soussamian, S., 2018. Sowingo: promoting innovations in dental office inventory management. Journal of Information Technology Case and Application Research, 20(1), pp.23-35.