L&H Dental Article

PRACTICE DESIGN

HOW I DID IT Interview with Dr Phil Redfearn

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Dr Phil Redfearn, partner at L&H Dentalcare, tells us why, when space was limited, and with a busy dental practice to run, it was time to call in the experts

joined what is now L&H Dentalcare as a partner in 1997. It is a longestablished general practice and has been looking after patients in Hamilton Scotland, for over 80 years. In 1996 the practice suffered a serious fire and when I first arrived the building was still undergoing major renovation work.

Fortunately, however, refurbishment of the building was completed to a very high standard and since that time we’ve continued to upgrade and grow the practice, including the installation of three new surgeries with wheelchair access in 2012, and a new suite of groundfloor facilities and our own in-house dedicated dental laboratory in 2015.

THE PRACTICE L&H Dentalcare has always focused on prevention and all our patients have routine hygiene appointments incorporated into their care. Despite already being a large practice, with a total of nine surgeries, six running full time for our dentists and three for our hygienists, it was becoming obvious that we needed more treatment space.

In 2018, along with my partners Conor

O’Malley, Paul Cooney and Brendan Carr, we took the decision to build an additional hygiene surgery as part of a complete renovation of the first floor of the building.

This would create ten state-of-the-art surgeries and a refurbished waiting room

and was to be a major undertaking. It was paramount that the whole project should be completed to the highest possible standard, with as little disruption to the daily practice routine as possible.

Aside from the refit of two surgeries in 2017 and with which we were very pleased, our other previous major refurbishments have involved employing our own building contractors and fitters and truth be told I have often been less than happy with the results.

THE PRACTICE

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It always seemed to be a constant struggle to get projects over the line, and trying to project manage building work, while running a large, busy practice is an extremely difficult, stressful and time-consuming process.

Having looked at various options we decided that the ten surgeries would be designed and fitted with new Dentsply Sirona treatment centres two of the surgeries were fitted with the Teneo and three with the Intego Pro. Myself and Brendan talked to all the major equipment suppliers and installers about our plans, but it was our meeting with Kelly Paterson from Henry Schein Dental that really impressed us the most.

Kelly arranged for us to meet at the Henry Schein showroom in with James Paredes from Dentsply Sirona, who travelled up to Scotland specifically for the meeting. They recognised we were looking for detailed product information to help our decision making, a high-end package of installation and excellent follow-up service. Together they walked us through the level of service and attention to detail that Kelly and her specialist team at Henry Schein Dental could provide in partnership with Dentsply Sirona’s u THE TEAM

L&H Dentalcare 72 Cadzow Street, Hamilton, ML3 6DS TELEPHONE: 01698 281 205 WEBSITE: www.lhdentalcare.co.uk THE ETHOS

We believe that the greatest gift we can give patients is confidence in their smile. Our team of hygienists and dentists has years of experience and is dedicated to giving our patients teeth they can be proud of and the very best individual care.

We are passionate about providing high-quality dental implants and cosmetic dental services, and our new, in-house dental lab allows us to fit crowns and veneers more effectively and quickly.

Our patients demand world-class customer service and a dental team who listen to their needs, and we are proud that at L&H Dentalcare they can be safe in the knowledge they have found what they are looking for.

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Dr Philip Redfearn Partner

Dr Brendan Carr Partner

Dr Conor O’Malley Partner

Dr Gordon Hawthorn Dr Arran Lang Associate dentists

Dr Paul Cooney Partner

Craig Smith Technician

PRIVATE DENTISTRY MARCH 2021

L&H Dental Care is a large practice with a total of ten surgeries

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PRIVATE DENTISTRY MARCH 2021

PRACTICE DESIGN

It was paramount that the whole project should be completed to the highest possible standard, with as little disruption to the daily practice routine as possible

THE GREATEST BENEFIT OF THE PROJECT FOR ME IS WORKING IN THE EXQUISITE ENVIRONMENT WE HAVE CREATED equipment team. Following that meeting we knew the search for the collaborators on our project was over.

THE BUILD Henry Schein’s design team was responsible for designing each of the surgeries from scratch. Kelly played an important role here, censor checking our decisions and suggesting tweaks to the design, that now the surgeries are in use are really working to our advantage. Once the plans were approved building work commenced in the middle of January 2019.

Henry Schein Dental’s specialist engineers provided the full installation of equipment and cabinetry and the building work was carried out by a local firm Alba Electrical Services. Having gone through four major refits during my time at the practice and each time thinking “never again!”, handing the project management over to the experts was a huge weight off my shoulders and it genuinely became an exciting and positive experience from start to finish.

The installation went smoothly and if there were any problems I just called Kelly and she dealt with issues on my behalf. Keeping to the timeframe was essential and she u PRIVATE DENTISTRY MARCH 2021

Henry Schein Dental’s specialist engineers provided the full installation of equipment and cabinetry and the building work was carried out by a local firm Alba Electrical Services

The installation went smoothly and if there were any problems I just called Kelly

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PRACTICE DESIGN

work and not just something that looked good. There is outstanding attention to detail throughout, and the ergonomics and layout of each of the surgeries works very well and makes a positive contribution to the well-being of the whole team. Of course, personally I’m particularly delighted with my Teneo chair which makes me smile every time I walk into my surgery.

Despite this being a ‘high-end’ refit, overall we regard it to be great value for money.

The work is now completed and I am absolutely delighted with the results. Our patients also really appreciate the stunning new surroundings and it has been a really positive experience seeing the admiration on their faces when they see what we have done. As Kelly said to me, ‘We wanted the refurbishment to be out of this world and cutting edge and that’s what we have achieved.’

COMPANIES AND EQUIPMENT INVOLVED IN THE PROJECT Builder knowledge, combined with a passion for made sure everything ran like clockwork the job, ensured the surgeries were fitted to keep disruption to a minimum and we out to the highest standards. I was also achieved our goal of keeping the practice particularly impressed with the installation open throughout the three-month build. of the new chairs. We received face-to-face Work finished just a week before the first training on their use and maintenance from lockdown started in March 2020. I pushed James, as well as superb follow-up service everyone to complete the building work, to ensure everything was as I could see what running smoothly once we was potentially on were working normally again. the horizon and I was concerned that if we THE RESULT had to close, we would The greatest benefit of the be left with a building project for me is working in site. The whole team the exquisite environment made a huge effort to we have created. Kelly get the project over the was fantastic to work with line before lockdown throughout and her team hit and we succeeded. produced a design that I was very impressed demonstrated a real desire to with Henry Schein’s make sure each surgery was engineers Gary and Henry Schein’s Kelly Paterson somewhere we were happy to Allan, whose product 33

Alba Electrical Services WEBSITE: www.albaelectricalservices.co.uk

Dental equipment Henry Schein Dental

WEBSITE: www.henryscheindental.co.uk

Dentsply Sirona

WEBSITE: www.dentsplysirona.com

Cabinetry and interior design services Henry Schein Dental

WEBSITE: www.henryscheindental.co.uk

IT installation and support IWT Dental & Services

WEBSITE: https://iwtech.co.uk/

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