When Dr Amit Jilka bought Abbey Dental practice in 2012, he was working predominantly as an NHS dentist. However, he knew a mixed practice would be the best way for him to grow his business. “We have a fairly substantial NHS contract with a number of UDAs, so the contract value is so high that I didn't really want to part with that in terms of practice value,” he explains.

Although Amit was keen to add a private dentistry offering to the practice, he didn’t rush to do so. He continued to enhance his range of skills by training in implants and then sedation. Within two or three years of having bought the practice he was able to carry out increasing numbers of private treatment plans.

It was a desire to offer a wider range of cosmetic and private treatments to his patients that led him to take the decision as principal to give up his own NHS commitment and introduce a membership plan with Practice Plan. Thanks to Practice Plan’s years of experience, the conversion process went well, apart from a small dent to his ego! “We sent letters to all the patients that I had previously seen and just stated that I'd be going private thereafter and another dentist would be taking over,” he outlines. “Quite a lot of the NHS patients did go private with me. Surprisingly, there were some of the patients I thought would've gone with me who didn’t. It's always a bit hit and miss. You can't really predict who's going to go with you and who's not, “he says. “I think there was some fear that a lot of patients would be upset by the situation, and we did get a few patients that were upset, but it wasn't as many as I thought it would be. So clearly, I’m not as important as I thought I was!” he laughs. “In all seriousness, as we were still offering NHS services, they could remain with a practice they had grown to trust and still receive the care they needed.”

Separate facilities

A concern some practices express to me when considering a partial conversion is how to deal with the issue of both NHS and private patients attending the practice at the same time. Amit already had in mind an elegant solution to this at the time he converted. “We were building another private building, so we had a premises across the road that we were converting to fully private,” he says. “Which meant we felt we could offer both services and keep the patients separate within that structure. So, if NHS patients wanted more private dentistry, they could go to the other building.”

Benefits

Since introducing private dentistry and the membership plan, Amit has seen huge benefits to the team and the practice as a whole. “Since going private, we have substantially increased our revenue,” he reports. “We've also been able to develop a much larger team as we’re offering more and more different services. The skill mix of the team has increased significantly with our therapy team leading the way. We now have treatment coordinators that are able to scan and do sedation assessments. So just by making that move to private, we're offering loads of different services. This in turn has increased our team capabilities which means ultimately, we’re offering a much better service for our patients.”

Amit has continued to grow and develop the business. As well as the three buildings he now has at his site in Stone, Staffordshire (NHS, private and a separate hygiene building) he opened a five-surgery squat practice last year in nearby Stoke-on-Trent. This squat has the benefit of a top floor which houses conference rooms and a training academy. About three years ago Amit changed the focus of his dentistry and became an implant only dentist. The new premises in Stoke-on-Trent will allow him to run training courses and pursue his interest in mentoring others in implant dentistry.

“At the moment I do one week clinical and then the next week I'm completely admin only. So, I'm only working clinical every alternate week,” he explains. “Probably 95% of the clinical dentistry I'm doing is just mentoring and not really seeing my own patients.” Does he see himself moving away from hands on dentistry altogether? “I don't think I'll ever stop being a wet fingered dentist,” he admits. “I enjoy that aspect of it and I think as a mentor, you can't mentor unless you're in it and doing it. But I think seeing my own list of patients is almost coming to an end and I’m moving more towards being a full-time mentor and trainer.”

If you are interested in finding out more about how we help practices to become more profitable or  you are looking to move from another provider, call 01691 684165 or visit practiceplan.co.uk/

About Amit

Amit Jilka is an award-winning dentist and one of the owners of Abbey House Dental. He has been developing the practice and its facilities since he bought it in 2012. He has had extensive training in dental implants and has been placing them for over 10 years.

Amit is the practice Clinical Lead and mentors other dentists in dental implants and sedation. He is a nationally accredited sedation mentor for dentists in IV and RA sedation. His practice is now limited to dental implantology.

Amit has grown his dental practice from a two-surgery NHS practice to having 19 surgeries over four sites offering the full range of dental disciplines. He has grown his team from four staff members to over 100 and recently launched his own training academy.

About Josie

Josie Hutchings has been a Regional Support Manager at Practice Plan for 22 years and has more than 30 years’ experience in the dental industry. Practice Plan is the UK’s leading provider of practice-branded patient membership plans, partnering with over 2,000 dental practices and offering a wide range of business support services.