The Brexit vote has had an immediate and dramatic effect on the UK’s credit rating and the value of Sterling. The UK is now seen as a less safe place to invest in and less secure to lend money to.

PFM Dental Director, Jon Drysdale, says: “The decision to leave the EU could affect your plans to purchase a dental practice and makes it even more vital to have a robust business plan. Lenders will undoubtedly pass on the increased costs of borrowing although against this it unlikely the Bank of England will impose an interest rate rise.”

The UK remains one of the world’s largest and strongest economies with good banking liquidity, relatively low unemployment and perhaps the potential for improved terms with global export markets. If you subscribe to this view, the cost of borrowing money will probably stabilise and remain at a reasonable rate.

All of this emphasises the need for buyers to examine their business plan and the cost of running a business. Are you being realistic about the interest rate you can achieve? Do your projections stress test for rise in the cost of borrowing?

For more information about PFM Dental services go to: http://pfmdental.co.uk

Richard Lishman from Money4Dentists shares his thoughts on Brexit and what it will mean for Dentists in the UK.

So it’s happened. Voters in this country have supported a split from the European Union and, for the first time in just over forty years, the UK will be heading out into the future without its Continental neighbours.

When the news broke on the 24^th, there was a lot of panic and uncertainty. The FTSE 100 dropped approximately 8.7 per cent, the strength of the pound plummeted to levels unseen for almost 30 years and the Prime Minister, David Cameron, announced his plans to step down in October. A pall of hysteria seemed to envelop the country… but is it really that bad?

Well, the most important thing to remember is that nothing is going to happen over night. A lot of things are up in the air right now, but they will settle. The market has gone up and down for years but it has always normalised. If we look back to the Scottish referendum, the FTSE experienced similar turmoil, but it went back to normal quickly enough. The main thing is to stay calm and not be too hasty in despairing.

In some cases, there may even be a chance for people to make a little money. In terms of equities, some may stand to make money if they buy carefully whilst prices are down and wait patiently for when the market returns to normal. Indeed, by being careful and investing wisely there can be much to gain at the moment. Of course, many individuals may be tempted to sell rather than buy right now, but this is more a product of inexperience than financial foresight. People are anxious and when they start to see the risk, they can panic and make mistakes.

It would be far better to approach this change with consideration and patience. Once the market has settled and the smoke has cleared, people will almost certainly have forgotten about the day we Brexited.

For dentists, one of the most crucial things to remember is that people will always have teeth – whether they’re part of the EU or not. The population will not suddenly stop needing to go to the dentist. There may be an initial dip in attendance whilst uncertainty reigns, but this will more than likely return to normal in due course – dental pain, after all, is and likely always will be a constant.

One thing, however, that some dentists may need to consider, if they achieved their qualifications in the EU but now practise in Britain, is that these may not be valid once the UK become independent. Of course, this is an eventuality that is still a long way away from becoming a reality, but it is something that might be worth researching to cover your bases.

But on the other hand, there may even be a chance for the UK dental economy to flourish. UK dental laboratories could see an increase in business if practitioners no longer have the option to work with overseas laboratories due to quality and standards incompatibility. Similarly, dental tourism may begin to tail off if EU dental qualifications lose their value in the UK and flights abroad increase in price.  

There are a lot of negatives that could come out of Brexit, but there are also a lot of positives that can be found – and these are most certainly worth looking for. Of course, if you are ever uncertain or concerned about your financial situations in the days and weeks following Brexit, it is always worth contacting an Independent Financial Adviser for, if nothing else, a little reassurance.

For more information please call 0845 345 5060 or 0754DENTIST.

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Calm Down, Calm Down, Calm Down

The words of Harry Enfield’s bubble permed Scouse's of the 1990’s are perhaps the most apt at the moment to describe how I feel about the outpouring of angst on the result of the EU Referendum.

Alternatively, to plagiarise somewhat Winston Churchill,

            "Never has so little sense been spoken by so many in so few hours"

I am probably about to join that increasing pile of rubbish, but thought rather than add fuel to what appears to be some as a bonfire of Liberalism and Tolerance I’d try to get a bit of perspective back. I’m certainly no political commentator, (and once you read this you’ll probably agree!!) but I do feel quite strongly how this has developed over the weekend. The sheer vitriol that has been produced in such a short time has been nothing short of shocking, but at least we now have got some real political debate and possibly change on our hands. However, we all need to calm down and stop falling out, because BOTH sides have valid points in my opinion and the only way to move forward now is if we calmly look at the big picture once again.

Because we haven’t actually left Europe. Not yet, and we will not in the next few weeks, months, or years. The referendum was a non-binding one, and merely the biggest opinion poll that has been run in this country for years, albeit with slightly more weight than most have. Unlike the Alternative Voting referendum in 2011, which had a legally binding result, there is no legal duty for a Government to act upon the result of Thursday’s result.

That’s right, Government has no obligation at all to actually heed the result.

It’s certainly monumental that the UK has voted in the way that it has, and there are a multitude of reasons why individuals will have done so. Many of them will have been misguided in other’s eyes, but all of them were personally valid ones to the person who was actually entitled to put their cross in the box. But we have seen the biggest turnout for years that has galvanised the electorate in way that I thought would never happen (now if only we could mobilise dentistry the same way…). This was always going to be a subject dear to the hearts and minds of the populous. It’s a shame that many of the most vocal of those who now feel betrayed by the decision were the ones with the lowest percentage turn out (the 18-24’s having less than 40% turnout). Perhaps there should have been a button on Facebook, or Text your Vote to allow that sector to vote? After all, many of them expect instant and easy solutions without having to actually physically get up and do something…. In addition, a democracy can keep continuing to vote and vote and vote until it gets the answer it wants.

Politically, I am of the opinion that David Cameron has played a political masterstroke. Unlike many, I was not shocked at all when I heard of his resignation. This is a man with an exceptionally astute political mind, and the outcome (although unexpected by many) will have been modelled by advisors. If we read into what he has said in the past, he had only alluded to the fact that a leave vote would result in the British public ‘expecting’ the process to leave the EU to be started straightaway.

An expectation by the public is not the same has an obligation by a politician though, and with his resignation, he has delivered what can only be described as a Hospital Pass to his successor as Prime Minister. For the formal process of leaving the EU to begin, Article 50 of the EU agreement relating to departure has to be formally invoked. Now, it is unclear if the invocation of this can be made by only the Prime Minister, or whether (more likely in my opinion) it has to have been voted on by Parliament in order to become formal. However, the result of the referendum, DID NOT invoke this process, and no matter what the EU Bureaucrats say, the UK is the only entity that can start this process.

So, a political hot potato has been deftly delivered by David Cameron as his last act in office. A new Tory Leader from the Leave side will have to either go against the referendum result, which will immediately destroy their personal credibility and therefore the faith of many people in their suitability to be Prime Minister, or they will have to activate Article 50, which then will probably have to go through parliament to be voted on. If they don’t do this immediately, then doubts about the suitability of the new leader to govern will set in as well. Is this not a most beautiful revenge on his once close allies Boris and Michael? In one fell swoop Cameron has called their bluff magnificently. ‘Leave’ now has to put up or shut up, and either enter into negotiations with the EU saying it was all a ploy to get further concessions, or activate the Article 50 clause, which might be their own political suicide if they don’t truly believe in what they have achieved.

I think we will then have the prospect of a snap General Election that could once again change the political face of the UK and re-establish a new political balance. One that might have Remaining in the EU as one of its fundamental promises. That’ll give the electorate who are currently appealing for a ‘best of 3’ approach to democracy to have another go at influencing the decision. However, quite as possibly with be a further endorsement of the desire to leave, but then there becomes a true mandate for a new Government to act upon. It’s like pressing the Reboot switch.

We have now heard that the Scottish MPs under Sturgeon will actively block the departure of the UK from the EU if this goes through parliament for a vote. So nothing at the moment is a given for the UK actually managing to leave the United States of Europe. The majority of the political commentators will know all this but cynically I’m of the opinion it serves the purpose of the media to keep all the froth and agitation going at the moment to confuse the populous even more and influence how they think whilst selling papers.

And the leaders of country with such political ability in the world didn’t see this outcome as possible?????

I suppose I should have a few opinions on what this means in Dentistry then. Well, for a start the GDC isn’t going to be affected by it at all. The Dentists Act 1984 is a piece of UK legislation and whilst it has EU aspects covered by such as the Human Rights Act and Data Protection Act, and has to be compatible with EU tenets of law, nothing within the day to day interpretation of the Act is likely to be affected by what happened last week. The same is true with the CQC. The UK is wonderful at developing infrastructure like this, and certainly doesn’t need the EU to make a business out of bureaucracy. There certainly won’t be a bonfire of the dental Quangos whether we stay in or out is my prediction.

There are a significant number of EU graduates working in the UK, and I don’t see any evidence that coachloads will be shipped back through the Channel Tunnel before it is bricked up overnight. What might actually happen though is that the corporates might find their supply of naïve EU dentists dries up due to the uncertainty of the future direction of the UK, and they might actually have to pay a competitive income to get people to work for them. This will no doubt affect their bottom line somewhat, and they might actually find they are now susceptible to the same pressures that normal practices are under and have to adapt the same way as we have all done. This can only be a good thing in order to restore the competitive balance in our profession.

What also might be beneficial to dentistry from leaving is the restoration of parity to our own graduates. Those who graduate from the UK have to complete foundation training before being allowed to work in the NHS, yet those from the EU don’t. Not only that, because the EU training is seen as equivalent to the UK, we cannot impose requirements like the ORE on them. Are all the EU Dental training courses the same quality? I think some of us might disagree that every single course is.  Surely this has benefitted those from the EU more than our homegrown graduates, and this potential discrimination can be possibly now be addressed in the future.

We still don’t really know what will happen with the prices of dental goods in the long term. Much of it is indeed made in the EU, but the USA and Asia are also vast markets, and not necessarily unified like the EU. China as an emerging market has already rocked the world of the dental technicians, and there is no reason why that cannot happen in the rest of dentistry. Admittedly controlling quality is going to be the issue, which worries me, but there are also some highly ethical businesses there that would work well within dentistry. There will be inevitably be some adjustments of prices because of the strength of the pound, but equally there is now an opportunity for entrepreneurs within the dental supply chain to start ‘disrupting’ the usual model.

The one thing we are unsure of is the overall effect on the general public and their incomes. Potentially this is huge, and the instability that is coming will affect them to an unknown degree. It is notable that the professional advice from the likes of the Bank Of England is to keep calm, whereas those who have a self interest, either towards the EU, or financially, in keeping the markets volatile is to Panic and Run Away. I know what I shall be doing. At times like this speculators usually manage to be the overall winners anyhow, so it’s in their interest to keep earning their money how they always have done.

But all this pre-assumes we will actually leave. I’m afraid I don’t believe the upper echelons of political power (and by that I don’t mean government but the high level civil servants who are in post despite what political flag is flying over Westminster) haven’t already worked out what their long game is and planned their chess moves accordingly.

So, we need to keep calm, because we haven’t actually left yet, and I personally don’t think we were ever going to….

Though the real question is can we trust any of them anymore?

Image credit - Muffinn under CC licence - not modified.

Credit options are becoming increasingly important in UK dental practices. The increasing demand for elective dental treatments, combined with the ubiquitous search for cost-effectiveness, has made the provision of finance very attractive, and it can be an important USP for many practices.

However, even if a practice is offering credit options, it may be the case that they are not seeing the best return on this facility as possible.

This is simply due to the fact that many dental professionals lack the necessary marketing skills to properly promote the services they offer patients – and this could really be to their detriment. Indeed, opportunities missed through poor marketing can actually be the difference between a practice achieving and one that is excelling.

Your practice’s website is, perhaps, the most obvious place for you to start promoting your credit facilities. By making sure the information is easily accessible and easy to understand, any visitors to your website will immediately be informed of the options they have with you.

Similarly, maintaining a regular and consistent social media presence, in which patients are kept informed and included, can be a very efficient way of getting across a desired message. Posting information about credit options on your practice’s social media page is a sure-fire way of increasing your patients’ knowledge on how they can benefit from what you have to offer.

You could also include a message in your phone system’s ‘on hold’ message. Ideally, you don’t want your patients to be on hold for very long – but on the occasions where they do have to hold the line, it is good opportunity to promote your credit options (which will be far more useful to you, and less frustrating for your patients, than playing a tune like Greensleeves while they wait!).

Quite obviously, appreciating that these methods should and could be implemented and actually implementing them are two very different kettles of fish. Effective marketing takes time and considerable effort – two commodities that are too often in short supply for busy dental professionals. Therefore, it may be advantageous to recruit the services of an expert marketing team to help you come up with a consistent and appropriate strategy for your practice. Of course, it may present an upfront cost, but it is an investment that will almost certainly pay dividends in the future.

Of course, there is a very simple and effective solution: Chrysalis Finance, the UK’s only provider of simple, licence free credit options, also has the marketing savvy needed to help you and your practice get the very most out of their exceptional finance facility. Its services range from printable material, to assistance with your website, helping you ensure that your patients are up to date on the great finance options you can offer them.

For more information about Chrysalis Finance call us on 0333 32 32 230 or visit www.chrysalisfinance.com