Private-growth readiness worksheet
Twelve questions on capacity, pricing, team, patient communication, compliance and measurement that show whether a UK practice is ready to market private treatment. Essentials are flagged automatically.
How to use it
- Answer each question for your practice as it is today, not as you plan it to be.
- Answer from evidence: the appointment book, the website, the written plans you actually hand out. If you have not checked, choose "Not sure yet". That lowers coverage, not the score.
- Ideally, fill it in with your practice manager or a senior receptionist, who will see gaps you may not.
- Repeat it before each new campaign. Nothing you enter leaves your browser.
Each question is explained in the preparation guide, the guide to communicating private options or the capacity planning page.
What each group checks
- Capacity: whether there is protected chair time for private appointments, and with whom.
- Pricing: whether patients can see private prices before they ask, and see them again on a written plan.
- Team: whether everyone explains the options the same way, and knows what is changing.
- Patient communication: whether existing patients are told clearly, and new ones have time to decide.
- Compliance: whether adverts meet GDC guidance, and whether any contract question has had advice.
- Measurement: whether you will be able to tell if marketing changed anything.
Worksheet
Capacity
Do you know how many chair hours a week are free for private appointments, taken from your own diary? Deal-breaker
A number from the appointment book, not an estimate. Without spare capacity, marketing only lengthens the wait.
Is it clear which clinicians see private patients, and in which sessions?
So reception can offer a real appointment on the first call.
Pricing
Is your private price list on your website and displayed in reception? Deal-breaker
The GDC expects prices on practice websites, so patients should not have to ask.
Do written treatment plans show the cost and which parts are NHS and which are private?
Required by the GDC Standards whenever a mixed plan is given.
Team
Can clinicians and reception explain NHS and private options in the same plain words?
Agree the wording once and use it everywhere: phone, chair and written plan.
Has the whole team been told what is changing, why, and what it means for their day?
Before any patient hears about it from an advert.
Patient communication
Is there a written plan for telling existing patients what changes and what stays the same?
Including who answers their questions and in what words.
Do patients receive options in writing and time to decide, with no pressure to commit on the day?
The GDC requires a reasonable amount of time to consider information.
Compliance
Does every advert, and your website, say whether the practice is NHS, mixed or wholly private? Deal-breaker
A requirement of the GDC guidance on advertising.
If any NHS contract is changing, have you taken professional advice for your nation?
Say which nation you practise in (England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland) when you ask. Answer Yes if no contract is changing.
Measurement
Do you record where each private enquiry came from and whether it booked?
Captured at first contact, not reconstructed later.
Do you have a baseline of private enquiries, consultations and treatment starts from recent months?
So you can tell whether marketing changed anything.
Results
- Practice A
- No answers yet0 of 12 questions answered. Score = weighted points / maximum points for the questions answered.
A score only compares the answers you entered. Treat any deal-breaker as decisive, and do not compare two columns until you have asked both the same questions.
Why these are essentials
- Free chair time. Marketing without capacity produces enquiries the practice cannot see, which is worse than not marketing. See capacity planning.
- A published price list. The GDC Standards require clear prices on practice websites so patients should not have to ask, and a simple price list in reception [2].
- NHS, mixed or private status. The GDC guidance on advertising requires every advert and practice publicity to make this clear [1].
Reading the result
Close any flagged essential before spending on marketing. After that, work through the lowest-scoring group first, in the order set out in the preparation guide. The score is a prompt for discussion, not a grade. If an NHS contract change is part of your plans, that decision needs professional advice for your nation, separately from this worksheet.
Sources
- General Dental Council, Guidance on advertising. Accessed 1 November 2026.
- General Dental Council, Standards for the Dental Team, Principle 2: Communicate effectively with patients. Accessed 1 November 2026.