A Christmas and New Year e-mail to the Dene Team from our Director

Written by: Craig Arnott

Good morning all,

With Christmas and the New year approaching I wanted to take the opportunity to quickly recap on another amazing year for Dene Healthcare and thank you all sincerely for your phenomenal work ethic, commitment and drive.

The creation and growth of Dene Healthcare has been amazing to witness and something I am incredibly proud to have contributed to. I hope you are able to take the same satisfaction from your part in the Company’s growth and appreciate each of your colleagues value too.

Over the years Dene has seen and overcome its fair share of obstacles and setbacks; everything from market crashes and server lockouts right through to the loss of key staff and a pandemic.  Regardless the trajectory and improvement in all departments has been a constant.

2023 started with what could have been another disruptive change via the acquisition of Dene Healthcare by Rocialle. While it inevitably caused unrest and uncertainty in the initial period (for me as well) I am delighted to say that we all quickly reverted to type and carried on doing what we all do so amazingly well; making Dene Healthcare a better Company for General Practice and a better and more secure place for us all to work!

It doesn’t matter to me if you’ve been at Dene for 15 plus years or you’ve just joined, you are here now for the same reason, because I believe you can make this Company even stronger next year and in the years that follow.

I’m delighted to report that we’ve managed to achieve all but 2 of our Company objectives for the year and 1 of those was missed by a single percent! (Our live chat had 99% satisfaction rating, not 100%).

I’m also delighted we were able to send Ricky back to New Zealand to see his parents for the first time in 7 years and I hope in the future we can do something meaningful for all of you.

We will achieve our financial forecasts for 2023 (barring disaster), we’ve taken the prize of Medical Supplier of the Year for the 5th time, we’ve won the Excellence in Primary Care Award at the Primary Care Impact Awards, we’ve achieved our Investors in People accreditation, significantly reduced our carbon footprint, donated and helped plant 500 trees and I believe dramatically increased the strength and resource of key teams and therefore the Company as a whole.

Thank you so much everyone! You make it a pleasure coming to work, I hope you feel the same and if not, please let me know why so I can try to improve things and get better at my job.

I’m incredibly proud of everything we’ve achieved so far and I consider it an honour to work with you all, you are all brilliant people who make one hell of a team and I can’t wait to see what we can deliver in 2024.

As a small token of appreciation you’ll shortly receive some M&S vouchers via email by way of a thank you.

I wish you and your families a merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Kind regards,

Craig

Dene Healthcare

Tel: 01132 50 50 70

Artificial Intelligence: How it Can Help NHS Staff Engage with Patients Effectively

As a healthcare professional, one of your top priorities is to communicate effectively with your patients. Whether you're trying to inform them about the latest medical procedures, or simply keeping them informed about their treatment plan, effective communication is key to promoting patient satisfaction and promoting positive health outcomes. Over the years, technology has helped healthcare providers communicate with their patients in new and innovative ways, and now the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is set to change the game even further. In this blog, we'll explore the benefits of using AI in blogging, and how NHS staff can use it to engage with their patients effectively.

One of the most significant ways that AI can improve blogging is through the use of natural language processing (NLP). NLP can be used to analyse and understand the text in blog posts and comments and can help healthcare providers identify important trends and insights. For example, NLP can be used to analyse patient feedback and identify areas where healthcare providers need to improve their communication efforts. Additionally, NLP can be used to identify the most frequently asked questions and concerns, and bloggers can use this information to create content tailored specifically to their patients' needs.

Another way that AI can help healthcare providers improve their blogging efforts is through the use of chatbots. Chatbots are computer programs that can interact with patients in real-time and can help answer frequently asked questions or provide personalised guidance. For example, a chatbot could be used to help patients schedule appointments, or to provide information about test results or medications. This can not only free up healthcare staff time and resources, but it can also improve the patient experience by providing patients with the information they need when they need it.

In addition to these benefits, AI can also help healthcare providers improve the overall quality of their blog content. AI can be used to analyse the readability and clarity of blog posts and can provide suggestions for improving the language and structure of the content. This is especially important for healthcare providers, as medical jargon can often be difficult for patients to understand. By using AI to simplify and clarify their writing, healthcare providers can ensure that their patients are fully informed and aware of their medical conditions and treatments.

In conclusion, AI has the potential to revolutionise the way that healthcare providers communicate with their patients through blogging. From analysing patient feedback to creating personalised chatbots, AI can help healthcare providers identify ways to improve their communication efforts and provide better care for their patients. As the field of AI continues to evolve, it's likely that we'll see even more innovative solutions that can help healthcare providers provide top-notch care for their patients. So, if you're an NHS staff member looking to improve your blogging efforts and engagement with patients, consider using the power of AI to take your communication to the next level.

How the receptionist got their scowl

Written by: S. Connor

I believe wholeheartedly that of all the roles in the practice, the reception team have the worst deal. They get paid the least amount of money and they take the most crap from patients, doctors and other members of staff. They work relentlessly from the moment they arrive until they finally get to go home, and the mad thing about it is that they could all earn more money working in a supermarket or behind a bar, but for the most part they stay.

 
I think that we have all had a higher turnover of staff in general since the pandemic, and I know that we have seen a few people come and go with rapidity on reception, but the majority of the old guard have never considered leaving. I admire them enormously, and in all honesty, I do not think that I could do their job on a day-to-day basis.

They are the bedrock of general practice and the foundation upon which we build, and they get no downtime, no real break from their role. Even GPs get a break (if only for a minute) between patients, but for reception a shift is often non-stop picking up phones or dealing face to face with patients. They are highly trained individuals, who receive little to no respect for their experience, and it seems incredible to me that they put up with the treatment they receive. 

If I ever speak to a person, whether it be a patient or someone I know and they are doing a bit of reception bashing, I ask them the same questions;

How would you respond if you were told that you were useless, every day, for years, by the people you serve?
How would you feel, if on a weekly basis at least one patient told you that you couldn’t do your job, or that somehow, their own failure to order their medication was your fault?
How would you feel if you were paid less than £10 an hour and were told by a patient that if they die, it’s your fault?
How would you feel if the public you serve completely disregard your training and the questions you ask because you are only a receptionist?
How would you feel if you worked your arse off for a public who happily label you and your colleagues as dragons?

I think that over time some GP receptionists (and I must stress that it is some, not all) grow a thick skin in order to protect themselves. Perhaps the dragon scales that patients sometimes see are more of a reflection of the way receptionists are treated than of them as people. If you are relentlessly bombarded with insults surely it is only natural that a defence mechanism builds up, and that being told you’re useless results in a lack of enthusiasm when dealing with your 50^th phone call that day. It is very hard to remain breezy and full of smiles when all you see are unhappy faces, who cannot understand why you can’t immediately give in to their every demand.

This is not a piece about how to make things better for reception, because until the public change their attitude to these women, because on the whole women tend to make up most reception teams in GP land, then we will never make it a truly enjoyable job. Don’t get me wrong it isn’t doom and gloom all the time, but I must admit that particularly since the beginning of covid, our reception team seem to be given more and more of a hard time.
So much for clap for the NHS, now we’re a couple of years in people forget that without receptionists, there would have been no vaccine clinics. Without reception, the practice simply could not run.

This piece is written purely to acknowledge what receptionists do, and the fact that they do it for very little in the grand scheme of things.

If you can, and where you can, remind your reception team just how much you appreciate them. It could be making them a coffee when you know they haven’t had time to leave their desk or buying them some treats on a Friday to end the week with a bit of a sugar rush. Or even, simply thanking them for everything they do.

It’s easy to get wrapped up in your own stress in such a relentless job as this, but we aren’t the only ones working hard. Receptionists do not deserve the public reputation they have, and so now, right now, as soon as you’ve finished reading this, I want you to go and tell your team just how much you appreciate them for everything they do.

Here’s to you, the GP receptionists of the UK, I take my hat off to you all. Thank you.

New Year, Hell Yeah!

Written by: Craig Arnott

The Dene Team is delighted to announce that from this afternoon (05/01/2023), Dene Healthcare has officially joined the Rocialle Healthcare family!!!

 

Rocialle are a UK leader in single use surgical instruments and, like Dene, prioritise their focus on achieving outstanding service and value for the UK healthcare market.

 

A little bit about Rocialle:

•           Formed in 1977, Rocialle Healthcare has been a trusted supplies partner for over 40 years.

•           Their South Wales head-office (Ty Mynydd) incorporates on-site sterilisation facilities and one of Europe's largest medical cleanrooms.

•           From their 130,000 sq. ft, purpose-built distribution centre (Parc Agility) they regularly deliver vital products and services to virtually every hospital in the UK.

•           Their core product offering includes single-use instruments, procedure packs, medical packs,  PPE, and wound care.

•           In addition to supplying primary care trade distributors, in 2022 they created the Rocialle PracticeCare division to serve GP surgeries with a complete portfolio of medical equipment, consumables and pharmaceuticals.

•           Rocialle also acquired MidMeds Limited in October-2022.

 

The whole team at Dene Healthcare are thrilled to have teamed up with Rocialle and we are looking forward to continuing our mission of adding efficiencies and time savings wherever we can to allow General Practice valuable additional resource to focus on patient care.

 

There will only be one immediate to change to Dene Healthcare with our Managing Director and Founder, Michael Drakard announcing his retirement at the end of March 2023.

Our Commercial Director Craig Arnott said: “We would like to take this opportunity to thank Mike for believing in the team at Dene and allowing us all the opportunity and freedom to prove ourselves under his leadership.  He will be missed immensely, but we will continue to target fulfilling his mission in supporting General Practice wherever we can.  We would also like to express our gratitude in finding and partnering with Rocialle before his retirement.  We are looking forward to enjoying the future with Rocialle as we have the past with Mike!”

It is not a priority!

Written by: S.Apone

I’d like to take a moment to consider the phrase it’s not a priority.

Being a practice with more than one site, it can be difficult to manage teams who are split geographically, and it can be even more of a challenge as a PM. You’re the go-to person when something goes wrong, the one who can solve the problems, and the one who doesn’t flap, right?

The truth is that this isn’t always the case. We as PMs are as capable as the next person of getting into a strop about our workload and sometimes, when for the fourth time that day you’re met with a question about a dodgy printer, you might snap and grumble something about not getting a moments peace, but we must, as the leaders of our teams take a step back at times and consider the consequences of our words.

Recently, a supervisor at one of our sites was telling me that she had been upset by the response of a senior manager when she, the supervisor, required some assistance.

To give a bit of background, the supervisor was trying to organise transport of covid vaccines and the accompanying stock to one of our sites. She had called the surgery holding the vaccine and asked if she could drive over and collect the jabs ready for a clinic the following morning. The only thing she asked of the manager was whether the stock was ready to collect. The manager, who was undoubtedly busy had snapped back that it wasn’t a priority, and the supervisor was, to my mind at least, understandably put out by this reply. No matter how busy the manager was, it was not a kind reply. The supervisor had spent the day working her socks off cancelling clinics for a GP off sick, covered on reception for someone on annual leave and had come in the previous evening well after hours because of a problem with the alarm, and now she was being told that something that is actually pretty important was not a priority.

If those at the top can’t see why this is a problem, then I would ask you to consider what I believe to be the single most important piece of advice I have ever been given as a manager. Imagine at all times that your staff are wearing signs around their necks, each of which read ‘make me feel important’. I guarantee that if you employ this tactic at work, you will have a happier team, who are never made to feel small or insignificant.

The NHS are losing staff in their thousands, and we need to be mindful of the way we treat our people if we want to keep them. The phrase its not a priority does nothing more than make a member of staff feel like their stress is unimportant to you as their manager. It is not impossible for a comment like this to become the proverbial straw that broke the camels back, the final blow that makes an employee consider their options and decide whether or not they want to continue to work for you.

It's a lonely place at the top, made lonelier if you can’t retain a good team of people around you. You are much less likely to achieve this if you do not guard your words closely. Think about the impact that words barked in frustration can have on the people who are on the ground. Receptionists in particular who are the backbone of our industry should always be spoken to with kindness and gratitude. I’m not saying that you cannot reprimand your team when things go wrong, because for us all a part of management is monitoring performance, but we can do this with kindness as well.

I do not believe that people do a bad job on purpose; I believe that in general, if you train people correctly and give them the tools, they need to perform their roles then they will do their work without much interference. I also believe that if you are good to your team, they will do even more. They will go above and beyond because they know that their work isn’t going unnoticed. It’s a simple message, but one that we should all try and remember. Be kind to your team, because you have no idea what anyone is going through, and it may be that your harsh reprimand or comment becomes the thing that finally tips them over the edge. It may be that comment that causes them to take less pride in their work, or even start the hunt for a new job and new managers who will treat them better.

The supervisor I referred to earlier is a work horse, and whilst I will not name her here, I would like to dedicate this blog to her. It’s a good job that when she was called at 9pm on a Friday night by the cleaners who were struggling to set the alarm she didn’t respond with it’s not a priority otherwise the senior manager would have found herself having to drive for an hour to sort it out

The wellbeing of our teams should always be our priority because without them, we would be out of the job.