fbpx

Supporting local dentists around the country

Dental Care Ireland CEO Colm Davitt, talked to Irish Dentistry magazine about our network of local dentists & ambition to support dentists’ businesses.

In May 2017, Colm Davitt, chief executive of Dental Care Ireland, talked to Irish Dentistry magazine about our network of local dentists across the country and his ambitions to support dentists’ businesses.

 

What exactly is Dental Care Ireland?

Dental Care Ireland is a new Irish-owned dental group. We set up two years ago, and to date, we have a network of 11 general and specialist practices across the country.

Essentially, we acquire long-established, high quality practices in local communities, with a view to helping them reach their full potential. Our aim is to free principal dentists from administrative burden, allowing them to focus on clinical dentistry.

We invest in upgrading the practices with the latest facilities and technology, as well as providing support in areas such as operations, finance, quality and compliance, IT, HR and marketing. Our vision at Dental Care Ireland is to provide a network of quality dental practices in every single county over the next five to 10 years.

How do you differ from other corporate practices?

Apart from being Irish-owned and -managed, our model is a new concept for dentistry in Ireland. What sets us apart is the fact that all of our dentists are established, local practitioners with a loyal patient base. We work closely with the incumbent dentists to build on the traditions of each individual practice, while ensuring a consistent service for patients across the entire network.

The Irish dental market is very different to the UK and other countries, and we believe that our combined experience and relationships give us a unique understanding of the sensitivities that exist in this country.

What can dentists and their teams expect when they sign up with Dental Care Ireland?

We work with dentists at various life stages and with different career ambitions. By joining Dental Care Ireland, they can expect to be valued, supported and encouraged to achieve their goals.

We basically reduce the management and administrative side of running a business significantly, and give dentists the clinical freedom to focus on their patients. In some cases, we also work with dentists who are seeking to reduce their clinical time commitment.

Each practice is upgraded, depending on individual practice requirements, to include new, state-of-the-art facilities and the latest technology. We also support the development of new services and treatments, education and training for staff, as well as more convenient opening hours for patients. We are very sensitive to clinical freedom and to the individuality of each practice and location.

How did you get involved in the dental industry?

I was previously CEO of a leading diagnostic imaging group called Euromedic Ireland (now Affidea), where I gained particular expertise in acquisition through a ‘buy and build’ strategy. This background also gave me a good understanding of the sensitivities involved in running a healthcare organisation and working with healthcare professionals.

My brother and business partner, Kieran, is a dentist based in Galway. Together, we came up with the Dental Care Ireland concept, which would combine Kieran’s clinical expertise and my track record in business development and healthcare management. The balance of both these skillsets has been pivotal to our success.

So where did the idea for Dental Care Ireland come from?

We first looked at international trends towards group dentistry elsewhere. We also explored the challenges facing younger dentists with regards to setting up, such as prohibitive costs and increased compliance.

Since the majority of practices in Ireland are independently owned, we saw an opportunity for a new model here. The model that we developed is very much focused on high quality clinical care, based in the local community. Our marketing tagline is ‘your local practice’.

What kind of practices do you look out for or like to work with?

All of our practices have a long-standing reputation and loyal patient base in their local area. We look for dentists who are committed to remaining with the practice for at least the medium-term, and generally, our practices have a minimum of three chairs.

Our dentists join Dental Care Ireland for a variety of reasons. For some, it is part of a managed retirement plan. For others, they just want to focus on their patients rather than the business, and others have career or family commitments that prohibit them from managing the business side of the practice.

We want to have a national network right across the country, so we are open to considering all locations if the opportunity is right.

What do you hope for the future of Irish dentistry?

I hope that younger dentists will be supported to pursue their career ambitions and that all patients will have access to high quality, convenient dental services.

The restoration of some publicly funded benefits would greatly help many patients across the country and improve the oral health of the nation. I would like to see Dental Care Ireland at the centre of positive developments in the sector in the years ahead.

Note: This article first appeared in the May 2017 issue of Irish Dentistry. It is reprinted here with kind permission