02 Jul Case Study | JDRM Dental Care | 7 Practices, 1 Software System
Building a Seven-practice Chain
JDRM Dental Care Ltd is based in Leicester and is owned by Jai Dhaliwal and Ruby Mahal. The couple became Pearl customers in 2009 when they bought their first practice which was using the system at the time. “We loved it and have used Pearl ever since,” says Ruby.
Dr Ruby Mahal
Since then they have bought a second practice, and are now in the process of opening a further five in and around Leicester. “We’ve had some previous success at tendering for projects and services,” says Jai. “So we tendered for the NHS Urgent Care service for Leicestershire. We won that service so now we’re bringing it on stream with a total of seven practices. And of course, we’re using Pearl Dental Software.”
Tendering for NHS Urgent Care in Leicestershire
Ruby and Jai believe their success in gaining the contract was partly due to their understanding of the area, plus the reputation they had built. “I think we’ve been able to demonstrate a commitment to the very diverse people who live in and around the city,” says Ruby. “The new practices will mean we’re working over a cross section of the city, both geographically and demographically.”
Leicester has historically had poor oral health relative to the rest of the UK. “I agree that part of our success with the tender was a demonstration of the problems facing Leicester. More importantly, our commitment to do something to improve things,” says Jai. “Our vision of how we will deliver emergency and out-of-hours treatment across the seven sites was critical.”
A 350% expansion – for the brave?
As if expanding their business by 350% isn’t brave enough, Jai and Ruby have been Beta testers for the NHS/Mixed Practice version of the new generation Pearl Dental Software system. They are now part of the ‘Early Adopter’ programme. This means that they have been involved both in the development of the product, and are now very much involved in the practicalities of making it work in a live situation.
“We knew we wanted Pearl across all our practices from Day One. We knew that the product was going to be refreshed and would incorporate the latest NHS changes. So we wanted to make sure it supported them the way we felt it should,” explains Jai. “The new version is already proven in private practice. We were quite prepared to help get it ready for Mixed practice if that meant we could open our doors using the latest incarnation of our favourite system.”
Dr Jai Dhalwal
New features to support a new challenge
One of the issues facing Jai and Ruby is how to retain visibility and maintain control over seven separate sites across a city the size of Leicester. Indeed, with 125 staff, JDRM Dental Care is a sizeable business. “The new cloud-based architecture is a true blessing for us,” says Jai. “We can access all the planning features and business data from any practice, or even from home. It also means that all our data is securely backed-up automatically, and that in turn means that we have fantastic resilience should anything put a site out of action.”
“The cloud systems are going to help us manage every aspect of the business; compliance and finance and many other areas. But because we now manage the out of hours service for the whole county, this is going to give us great flexibility in providing cover. There’s a real social need within this service, so it’s important for us to be able to plan this cover.”
New Periodontal Charting
“We’re heavily involved with the ‘Healthy gums do matter’ initiative. It’s all about showing dentists how to best treat perio conditions on the NHS. It provides road maps and treatment protocols for dentists to follow as well as raising awareness of periodontal conditions to the public. Treating a gum disease within the NHS treatment bands is a challenge. So this initiative is all about making sure that patients get the best treatment while guiding dentists in how to manage their UDA claims. The new perio charting feature is really important for us, and very easy to use.” explains Jai.
With 125 staff to train, JDRM has relied heavily on the Pearl team. “Ben and the team have just made it easy,” says Jai. “The training videos are good, and the on-site training and support is friendly and helpful. We’ve always enjoyed training VTs and nursing staff, but with a mixed team of 125 you need all the help you can get. BHA has been developing Pearl for many years now, and every change is practice led. They have a huge pool of knowledge on the subject. Even though some of our new Associate Dentists and Nurses are used to R4, Exact and other systems for dentists, they’ve all found it easy to pick-up Pearl and quickly get comfortable with it.”
Part of the JDRM Team
Support is Brilliant
“BHA is really responsive. Being UK based the team really understands NHS dentistry, and that’s built into the core of the system,” says Ruby. “There’s never been a day when the software or implementing it has been a headache. We have so many deadlines to meet, but the Pearl team have been incredibly flexible. Plus installation is so simple. One day we have a project, the next day BHA installs the software and it’s a dental practice.”
BHA has recently made some internal work practice changes to extend standard support desk availability (8:00am to 5:30pm), and JDRM will be one of the first businesses to make use of the support cover extensions, both morning and evening. “The support is also brilliant,” says Ruby. “Even when I’ve been asked to sort out how to do something I don’t usually do, such as a reception function, the support desk has been able to guide me through. Pearl works well across all functions – dentist, nurse and receptionist – and so does the support.”
In conclusion
At time of writing, the JDRM Dental Care project in Leicester is one of the biggest live projects of its kind in the UK. Jai and Ruby believe that their task would be far harder if it were not for Pearl Dental Software. The combination of modern, cloud-enabled, feature-rich software and a UK supplier focused on service is critical to the project’s success. Pearl’s ability to support clinical, management and reception functions equally well, plus excellent training resources, is essential to the success of such an important project.
“All things considered, Pearl provides everything we need to make this service a success,” concludes Ruby. “We’ve built our business in the knowledge that we have a system that does everything we need, including a vendor with an eye to the future. That’s why I believe Pearl offers so much more value for money than anything else on the market.”
JDRM Website
About JDRM Dental Care
- Head office : 2 Marlborough Square, Coalville, Leicestershire, LE67 3WD
- Staff : 125 Associate Dentists, Hygienists, Nurses, Receptionists and Practice Managers
- Practices : Seven locations across the city and suburbs of Leicester
- Patient base : approx 28,000 registered patients, plus emergency dental services to approximately 348,300 citizens of the Leicester Unitary Authority
- Website : https://www.mynewdentist.co.uk/ or http://www.jdrmdentalcare.co.uk/
A little bit about us…
To discuss how Pearl might help you implement an independent or a multi-practice chain, contact us via our contact page.
To speak over the phone call: 0116 275 9995 or email: info@bhasoftware.com.
Baker Heath Associates Limited
BHA writes user-friendly software to a specific target with a flexible pricing system, no tie-in contract and continuous support and upgrades. We produce software products for a number of areas; dental surgeries, mortgage brokers, colleges & universities, estimators and membership organisations. We take client feedback very seriously, and upgrades, modifications and improvements are driven by requests from our clients.
Support, Installation & Training
There is no switchboard at Baker Heath – you get straight through to support. A programmer answers your call and will be able to start helping you immediately. When you purchase one of our packages, we will install the program on-site and provide training for all staff on the same day.
