The Borough Blog – November 2013

Welcome to The Borough Dental Practice blog!

My plan is to write a new entry every month or so.

This I hope is going to be a fun and informal way of communicating with our patients and the local community with news of the latest happenings at the practice, events, initiatives and anything else we think might be of interest!

It may also be a means of feeding back on any general patient questions or suggestions, so do email the practice or drop a suggestion in our Patient Feedback box in the practice. Happy reading!

An Update on the Practice

In the next few days, The Borough Dental Practice will officially open!

It has been more than 2 ½ years since Luke and I were playing with the children in the park opposite and spotted the “For Sale” sign outside 58 The Borough. A week later a bemused Estate Agent waited impatiently as we spent an hour wandering around the house tapping walls and working out how it might convert to a dental surgery.

We had known the previous owner (and ironically the retired village dentist), David Dowling, for many years through the village Baptist Church before he had sadly died a year earlier. So we put our cards on the table and introduced ourselves to his daughter who was living in the property at the time, and explained what we had in mind. “Dad would be delighted.” she said. “He’d think you were crazy though!”

Barnaby was a bit of a shock!

Consultation with neighbours and the Parish Council followed, before a planning application permission was put in, while we frantically prepared our house in Wick Lane for sale so we could fund the purchase. But on the day we sold our house and committed to buy 58 The Borough, we discovered a slight hiccup. Jenny was pregnant – with a long-hoped for third child who we had just given up on.  Nevertheless, it was a bit of a shock!

We ploughed on regardless and were blessed with our wonderful Barnaby, who has enriched our lives no end. However, earlier this year, we knew it was time to put our plans for the practice back on track.

So there has followed the busiest year of our lives as we converted the upstairs of the property to a residential flat for ourselves and now the downstairs into a dental practice. It has been a long and disrupted summer and we are incredibly grateful to our neighbours who have not only put up with the mess and the noise, but even hosted us living in our caravan on their driveway while the worst of the conversion was taking place!

Luke drilling something!

The eventual result though is better than our wildest dreams when we first started tapping on walls in the property 2 ½ years ago, and we are grateful to all the local tradesmen who have helped us along the way.

We can’t wait to show everyone the result. Thank you to everyone for putting up with the eye sore our house has been on The Borough while the conversion has taken place. With the planting we have done, we hope, come spring, the Practice will contribute to rather than detract from the beauty of The Borough!

NHS or Private?

Many people have asked us if we are going to be NHS. We are not. Firstly, there isn’t an NHS contract available for a new practitioner in Downton and, even if there was one, there is little prospect of an individual practitioner being able to bid successfully against the huge private healthcare companies who now own most NHS dental practices.

However, by being private I believe I can give my patients the clinical time I need to do the best possible job for them. I now have the freedom to use the materials and laboratories I know and trust. I can use high-quality equipment like digital x-rays, which are safer for patients and will help me deliver better care. And I can pay my team a living wage, so they can thrive and my patients will be welcomed by familiar faces every time they come.

I can assure you our prices will always be the best value we can make them and will compare very favourably with similar private practices. We are also going to heavily subsidise children’s care as our commitment to the local community.

And Finally …

We are pleased to announce the following Open Days:-

Tuesday 12th November           9am – 5pm

Wednesday 13th November    9am – 5pm

Thursday 14th November       9am – 8.30pm

Friday 15th November              9am – 8.30pm

Saturday 16th November        9am – 5pm

With best wishes,

Jenny