In an exclusive interview, Niki Boersma, President of the Association of Dental Administrators and Managers (ADAM), tells Derek Pearson that a practice without a manager is practising false economy

BOERSMA is a popular surname in the northern Netherlands where Niki’s husband’s family comes from. It means “Son of Farmer”. In keeping with the name, she isn’t afraid to roll her sleeves up and get on with the work.

This busy woman has been president elect of ADAM since June 2014. She sees her association’s role as one of networking and providing support for practice managers as well as mentoring, as a conduit through which members can be learning from others and providing peer review. She wants it to work at a practical level, starting with education.

She observes: “Education is a core part of a manager’s job but we aren’t required to do CPD. I think we should pursue education and always be learning. Look at what we do. As part of our role we have to be up-to-date with CQC guidelines, current complaints procedures and clinical note taking.

“This is very important. We need to support the dentist in making sure notes are compliant. Of course we don’t need to know how to write the notes, we aren’t clinically trained, but we should be aware of regulator’s requirements. A practice manager should be able to perform a spot check audit on the compliance of all paperwork.”

According to Niki the true value of a practice manager is in helping the dentist achieve that all-important work/life balance. She continues: “Why should dentists have to spend precious evenings trying to sort out their paperwork when it can all be done for them by a practice manager?

“Dentists are trained for dentistry and we are trained in the business of running the practice. We allow the dentist to maximise their time chairside and that is when they are making money – nobody pays them for sorting out paperwork. I have heard some dentists say they can’t afford to pay a practice manager. I question that. I say they can’t afford not to!

“When the latest contracts were introduced in 2006, some PCTs would only deal with practices that had practice managers. They saw the value of having a professional deal with the paperwork. Since then even more regulation has been introduced by the CQC and our core business – the practice of business – has become vital.”

Niki concludes: “Going forward we will be working to develop IT and business modules plus offering advice to members about ways to simplify their role. But we will never lose sight of the fact that practice management is a people-centric role and that we are key to team development. Get the paperwork right and make sure training protocols are in place but never lose sight of the team.”

For more information visit www.adam-aspire.co.uk.