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Doctors reluctant to look in the mirror
Awareness of mental health issues has significantly increased in recent years and more people are open about their own mental ...
Get patients’ feedback . . .
. . . too many won’t tell you By Robin Stride The assessment of patient satisfaction with their private doctors, hospitals and clinics needs a re-think following new Care Quality Commission (CQC) research showing a widespread reluctance of people to complain. Its study of NHS and private patients found nearly 7m people in England who […]
The internal vs external dilemma
During this mini-series on ‘practice management made perfect’, Jane Braithwaite has covered the various activities that constitute good practice management. Here she brings this all together by exploring the different options for resourcing your practice or clinic to ensure everything is managed professionally and cost-effectively. Managing all aspects of a private medical practice requires a broad […]
On course to a paperless world
Going paperless – is it really possible? It’s not yet happened in private practice, but the direction of travel is clear, says Kingsley Hollis. An article in Business Week in 1975 predicted that the ‘office of the future’ would be paperless. With a personal computer on every desk, companies would have no need to generate […]
Virtual is the new reality
Managing patients’ expectations is key to private practice and as people get more tech-savvy they expect more. Grant Brookes shows how digital transformation can help. Digital transformation may seem like another buzzword from the marketing world, but it is something that is getting harder for independent practitioners to ignore. The term refers to the integration […]
Private sector set to be safer
Consultant oversight framework The new Consultant Oversight Framework will act as a strong benchmark for all independent hospital operators to meet, says David Hare, chief executive of the Independent Healthcare Providers Network Improving patient safety has risen to the top of the health agenda in the past few years. Everyone from the World Health Organisation […]
Make yourself tax-efficient
Next month marks the beginning of a new tax year and for many consultants and GPs in private practice, a new ‘trading year’. Most unincorporated independent practitioners tend to prepare their practice accounts more or less in line with the tax year – to 31 March – and many who trade as companies do so […]
What you need to know at the outset
Your private practice is a business and you should run it as such from day one to ensure success. Key financial aspects considered here by Ian Tongue will help ensure you are best placed to maximise the return on your hard efforts Before you start Prior to the commencement of trading, it is important to […]
Patient is fixated with royal family
Business Dilemmas A doctor’s involvement with the Fixed Threat Assessment Centre sparks an unusual dilemma. Dr Kathryn Leask gives her response Dilemma 1 Must I reveal my patient’s data? Buckingham Palace: to where a patient has been sending letters to the royal family QI am a psychiatrist and have been contacted […]
Most impressive of its class
‘Doctor on the Road’: Volvo XC40 Our tester Dr Tony Rimmer finds the Volvo XC40 a refreshing alternative to the German brands As well-educated and respected professionals, most of us – of course – resist the temptation to be ostentatious in our habits. We usually buy things to improve the lives of ourselves and our families […]
Annual stats show PPUs are on the up
Figure 1 NHS PPUs enjoyed record income last year. Philip Housden presents his annual review for Independent Practitioner Today NHS trusts have again achieved record incomes from private patients, as shown through Housden Group analysis of the 2017-18 Annual Accounts. Last year’s summary highlighted some marked trends apparent from the data, and these and further […]
NHS reforms embed
Tracing Our Roots Where we are today in private healthcare owes much to events in the NHS. Dr Ellen Welch continues her series with the key milestones from the 1990s. 1990 NHS reorganisation – The National Health Service Community Care Act receives Royal assent, pushing through the proposals of the 1989 Working for Patients paper […]