News from the FTA blog.
Dental Practice Running Costs on the Up
The cost of running a dental practice in England and Wales has increased for 93% of all respondents in the last 12 months. So says a recent survey carried out for Frank Taylor and Associates by the Forum of Private Business.
As might be expected, energy, staffing and material costs were some of the main culprits. Over 90% of practices responding said that both materials and energy had gone up, with 83% saying that they thought that staffing costs had also increased.
Two areas that also appear to be on the rise are those of insurance and the cost of raising finance. 77% felt that the cost of finance has gone up or stayed the same, and 98% said the same about insurance.
This has surprised both David Brewer and Dino Charalambous at Frank Taylor and Associates. David Brewer commented, “In the current financial market, we have actually seen a lot of competition in the finance sector. This is probably due to dentistry being seen as a ‘green light’ sector for lending. There are great opportunities for practices to reduce the cost of finance.”
Dino who is an IFA and deals with a wide range of issues feels that high premiums could be a reflection of dentists not buying from the whole of market. “Remember, ‘panel of insurers’ is not the same as the whole of market – many could be confused by the terminology. In short, your IFA needs to confirm to you that they have access to the whole of the market.”
Overall, dental practices seem to be paying a little over the average to do business – 10.6% as a cost of doing business vs. 8.5% for small businesses generally.
The Incisal Edge 