Latest Blog Post

It’s round about 10 years since I became a school governor at what was then my eldest daughters primary school.

I stood for election and was unsuccessful but was then approached by the Head Teacher because another post came up and he decided he didn’t want another election! I was cheap and available, that’s usually how I get these posts.

I learned tons and tons from that school with three different Head Teachers and three different approaches, but mostly about running a really tight budget. In my role as Vice Chair of Governors I condemned the school to a Requires Improvement OFSTED inspection which was almost the worst thing that could have happened.

My only solace was that the only part of the school that seemed good was the governors.

As an aside I’m glad to say that we managed as a group to link the school with a multi Academy trust and it’s flourishing now, this will soon be outstanding. My son is still there.

I moved on (by invitation) to be a governor at a secondary school. This school has a 7-million-pound budget and is outstanding. It has been for years and I am now (somehow) in charge of finance.

What school governorship has taught me though is what it might look like if we had a similar ratings programme for dental practices.

Imagine you were striving for ‘outstanding’ in your dental practice, in particular in your independent dental practice. By independent I mean independently owned, not necessarily outside the NHS.

You would need to be outstanding in your clinical standards (that’s a given).

You would need to be outstanding in decontamination.

Your equipment would need to be outstanding.

Your facilities would need to be outstanding.

You strategic HR and management of your team would need to be outstanding.

Your financial and clinical monitoring would need to be outstanding.

Your patient feedback, staff feedback and supplier feedback would need to be outstanding.

Your community engagement and corporate social responsibility or legacy would need to be outstanding.

Just about 20% of state schools receive outstanding OFSTED, what percentage of independent dental practices do we think would achieve outstanding OFDENT, if such a thing existed?

Blog post number: 1585