Independent Practitioner Today

Competition among independent practitioners and private practices can be fierce, so making a good first impression with customers is vital. Stephanie Vaughan-Jones discusses how you can do just that According to research, a mere seven seconds is all we have to win someone over when we first meet them. It’s a small but magical window […]

The most successful independent practitioners ‘work smart’ and have been able to steal back time so they can focus more on patients and developing their practice. Kingsley Hollis suggests five areas for suitable treatment. Time is a precious resource in medicine and most doctors quickly become adept at managing their clinical workload and prioritising tasks […]

What should you be asking your financial planner? Dr Benjamin Holdsworth shows how independent practitioners can ensure they have the right help in place. You may be deciding whether now is the time to engage some help with your finances, as the scale of your work is growing, your income streams are becoming more complex […]

‘Business Dilemmas’ Dr Ellie Mein responds to two more medico-legal dilemmas that independent practitioners have had to confront.         Dilemma 1 Mother wants to alter surname Q The parents of one of my young private patients are going through an acrimonious split and the mother now wants her daughter to have her […]

A chaperone should always be offered where any intimate examination is proposed, particularly if a patient has been sedated – even if the doctor and patient are of the same sex, says Dr Gabrielle Pendlebury An allegation of sexual misconduct involving patients can be potentially devastating for a doctor, impacting negatively on their career and […]

If there is something you are unsure about regarding your business accounting, never be afraid to ask your accountant. In this month’s column, Susan Hutter answers more of the most frequent questions she receives from doctors Q I am going to be filing my tax return – could you advise me what the taxman will accept […]

Heed these memos from Garry Chapman to make your billing more efficient – and your bank account healthier. Garry Chapman (right) is executive chairman of Medical Billing and Collection See ‘A-Z of getting the money in’  

Our motoring correspondent Dr Tony Rimmer takes a new, premium, French brand for a spin. Can it recapture the magic of years past? Just occasionally, in medicine, a revolutionary development comes along which takes us all by surprise and alters the way we practise. It may take us a while to change, but if we […]

Where we are today in private healthcare owes much to the development of the NHS. Dr Ellen Welch presents some of the key milestones down its 70 years. 1950s The first decade of the NHS was not without its problems, but it was successful enough to cement it into an institution. A free, universal service […]

Our tour of NHS private patient units continues with Philip Housden analysing private patient revenue growth for 27 NHS acute trusts across the North-west region. This covers the conurbations of Greater Manchester and Liverpool, and counties of Cheshire, Lancashire and Cumbria. For this regional group of trusts, the accounts show that total private patient revenues […]