For UK private dental practices
Patients rate the clinical care highly, then book elsewhere next time
Friction in booking, communication, and waiting times is quietly eroding your patient list. On a busy practice, even a modest retention improvement can be worth a substantial sum each year, without a single new patient.
Two minutes. Solva follows up with specific patient experience improvement options.
- Patients struggling to book appointments online or by phone, leading to frustration and abandonment
- Long waiting times in reception areas or for treatment, causing patient dissatisfaction and missed appointments
- Inconsistent or unclear communication regarding treatment plans, costs, and aftercare instructions
- A lack of personalised follow-up after appointments, making patients feel undervalued and forgotten
- Increased administrative burden due to handling complaints and re-bookings
- Inefficient scheduling and resource allocation, leading to wasted chair time
- Reduced patient lifetime value and lower recurring revenue streams
- Increased marketing expenditure for new patient acquisition to offset churn
- Negative online reviews and social media commentary, damaging the practice's brand image
- Reduced patient referrals, impacting organic growth
- Structural issues often include outdated administrative systems, lack of integrated technology for communication and booking, and insufficient staff training on patient-centric approaches.
- Behavioural factors stem from staff complacency, a reactive rather than proactive approach to patient feedback, and a failure to consistently deliver on patient expectations.
- Systemic challenges arise from the increasing competition in the UK private dental market, rising patient expectations influenced by other service industries, and the historical focus on clinical excellence over holistic patient experience.
The average patient retention rate for dental practices is 57% (Henry Schein One, 2024)
How to fix it
A patient journey audit covering booking, communication, waiting time, and post-appointment follow-up identifies the two or three changes that will have the biggest impact on retention and referrals within 60 days.
Frequently asked questions
Why does this problem persist?
Patient experience in private dentistry is increasingly a competitive differentiator. Practices with friction in the booking process, poor communication, or long waiting times lose patients to competitors who have invested in the experience.
What is the cost of leaving it unaddressed?
A 10% improvement in patient retention on a list of 1,000 patients, with an average annual spend of £3,500 per patient, generates £350,000 in additional annual revenue without any new patient acquisition (Remedico, 2024)
This is exactly what I do with UK private practices. Answer the few questions above and I'll come back personally with where to start. Paul.