Dental Tribune United Kingdom Edition

13DCPsFebruary 7-13, 2011United Kingdom Edition The One-Day Marketing Action Plan with “Arrive with a blank sheet of paper and leave with your team committed to an action plan that will catapult your business – to where you want it to be.” This dynamic workshop will be focused on the PRACTICALITIES of creating your own personalised practice marketing plan. You will be able to choose from a menu of current ideas that fit your practice profile, your core values and your financial budgets. Ideas that have been tested and proven in the marketplace – and are working TodAY! Turbocharge yourmarketingtoday! Tuesday 24th May 2011 - Holiday Inn Bromsgrove, Birmingham The event starts at 9.00 am and will end at 4.30 pm Lunch and refreshments are included. Chris Barrow Chris Barrow has been coaching business owners since 1980 and has a proven track record of working with prominent dentists and other professionals. Special discount rates available for Practice Plan clients Just £100per person book now... £150per person So, if you’re up for the challenge and want to gain five hours CPD, contact us now to book your place! “Excellent day, most informative” Limited places available Special One-off date for2011 One-day event Back by popular demand... Call 01691 684141 Or email sarah.whittall@practiceplan.co.uk G12833 CB 2009 Re-Run A4 Advert.indd 1 28/1/11 09:43:17 A longside the professional requirements set out by the General Dental Coun- cil, dental professionals must make sure their day-to-day activ- ities meet generic legal require- ments. There has always been a considerable overlap between the professional legal require- ments, now Care Quality Com- mission’s mandate is to blend these factors into a joined-up code of practice for providers of health and social care. To fulfill this role they must ensure timely integration of new legal require- ments into practices working procedures. Therefore, practices cannot afford to overlook new legislation or fail to make any re- quired changes. Some new legal codes will have a minimal impact of den- tal teams. Others will be more significant. One significant change was introduced the new Equality Act which was intro- duced on October 1 2010. Un- der this Act all employers and providers of goods or services to the public need to be aware of some significant changes. The Act was introduced to streamline and combine previ- ous legislation and make things easier for businesses. Its objec- tive is to help protect minority groups and those who are dis- criminated against, which is un- arguably good society as a whole, but reality places increased pres- sures on care service providers. Key changes The Act specifies ‘Protected Characteristics’ and types of dis- crimination: Protected Characteristics Age; disability; race; religion or belief’s; sexual orientation; gen- der reassignment; marriage and civil partnership; pregnancy and maternity. Different types of discri- mination: Direct discrimination; Asso- ciative discrimination; indirect discrimination; Harassment; Harassment by a third party; Victimisation; Discrimination by perception. The response to these chang- es must be to actively promote equality, diversity and human rights at your practice. Manag- ers need to consider the design of their services and place fair and accessible care at the core of practice philosophy. Place the patient at the centre of your services by developing a range of user friendly practice processes to promote equal- ity, diversity and human rights. On this basis you can plan ac- tions to cater for patients with specific needs, including those with disabilities. You will need to Introduce practice processes to receive patient feedback and act on it, so that patient wants and needs are accounted for when shaping your services. Practice managers need to determine practical ways to in- troduce and monitor both exist- ing and updated measures into their practices. The most effec- tive way to roll out the practices best intentions is to involve all staff in setting and measuring the observation of standards. In most cases this requires some training and development for the team. In house training options are an ideal way to set-up what will be- come a self-perpetuating train- ing and development culture. At present in certain circumstances a £,1000 training grant can be ac- cessed for this purpose. DT Are you up to speed on equality? Glenys Bridges provides some advice on the code of equality About the author Glenys Bridges is managing director of the Dental Resource Company, and has provided training for dental teams since 1992. For more information, visit www.dental-resource.com or call Glenys Bridges on 0121 241 6693.