Expert view from the Dental sector
Braemar Finance recently conducted its latest Business Barometer research, which examines current Dental sector trends and the view of business-owners about a range of issues, from the cost of doing business to recruitment and retention.
In this piece, we get under the skin of the data to find out more…
Cost of doing business
The cost of energy has had – by some distance – the most impact on Dentists’ income, with 40% selecting this option. Staff pay rises (20%), supply costs (19%) and rent increases (14%) are the next most cited, while fuel accounted for only 7%.
Unsurprisingly, 90% of Dental business owners said they were taking measures to reduce their energy use, including, in order of most popular measures:
- Turning off the lights overnight
- Lowering the heating
- Replacing equipment with more energy-efficient alternatives
- Looking at alternative heating and energy sources
- Changed energy supplier
- Insulating your building
Unfortunately, 36.5% confirmed that they had considered closing their business as a result of rising costs, and 45.5% said that they had made redundancies because of the impact of rising costs.
Four in every five firms have passed on additional costs to their customers, either partially (26%) or fully (54%).
Recruitment and retention
Looking at staff vacancies and the impact of the recruitment and the retention crisis, 45.5% of Dentists replied that they currently have a vacancy to fill, and a further 40% said they’ve struggled to fill vacancies in the past 12 months.
The UK’s economic outlook
A large number (85.5%) of dental businesses surveyed responded that they were concerned about the UK’s current economic performance, although 21% expected to expand in the coming 12 months against 19% who think they will contract; the remaining 60% hope to ‘stay the same’.
86% of respondents confirmed they’d been impacted by rising inflation, and two thirds think it likely they’ll apply for funding within the year.
The environment
Despite the economic headwinds they’re facing, 62.5% of dental businesses are working to limit their environmental impact and that 81% have considered climate change and other environmental factors within their business plans; 82% believe that they can help to tackle climate change and a further 27% believe they can achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
New technology
Nearly three fifths (58%) of respondents are still looking to invest in new technologies over the course of the next year, which matches with the 72.5% of dental businesses that stated they feel keeping up to date with modern technologies is a key differentiator for customers and a reason they may choose their practice over a competitor.
Over 90% of dental businesses are confident about being able to keep ahead of technological developments within the profession.
Methodology:*
All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from a Censuswide survey conducted in February 2023. The survey canvassed the opinion of over 1,200 senior members of the professions across the UK on a range of issues affecting their businesses.
