Team focus
PRACTICE MANAGER ADELE WELSH
Adele has worked at Church Court since before any of the rest of us arrived. Grasping the relevance of social and emotional intelli- gence, coupled with
innate ability, her skills have been key to practice development. With her accompa- nying understanding of patient care at the highest level, she recently led the practice to an excellence in customer service award from the Chamber of Commerce. Despite leanings towards spending free
time in literary and mathematical worlds, on balance we all feel these interests bring indirect benefits in the professional world. Adele is well read and her skill-base has
resulted in an extraordinary ability for realising the potential of individuals. It may well rest behind anything that
could have set us apart in the Practice of the Year Award.
DENTAL NURSE HEATHER COULTHARD From a background in general nursing, Heather arrived at the practice along with an unusually practical approach and decep- tive level of insight.
She has a voracious appetite to develop an understanding of everything. Able to hold her own with any profes-
sional vehicle service mechanic, she was instrumental in managing the introduction of PreViser risk assess- ments (DEPPA) throughout the practice. Heather’s recent requests to attend courses on signing and forensic science came as no surprise. Coupled with organisational skill that belies her age, it is doubtless that her participation in these will be productive. We all know any relevant knowledge will be retained by Heather, then applied, maybe indirectly, but always to the advan- tage of the practice.
DENTAL THERAPIST JULIE-ANNE IRVING Julie-Anne has trans- formed practice operations by providing every aspect of the therapist role. ‘Gentle’ and ‘unassuming’ are synonymous with
descriptions of her approach from patients and colleagues – but they are not the whole story.
Dental Protection and schülke will announce the winner of the 2014 award at the annual Premier Symposium to be held in London on 29 November.
On her first day at the practice, Julie
arrived driving a similarly unassuming, small, white hatchback. Some weeks later, eyebrows were quietly raised in the staffroom when the source of, thunderous rumblings was noticed in the car park. Julie’s ‘little runabout’, as it turned
out, housed an engine the size of those used by locomotives running on the east coast mainline. In her own case, Julie’s hidden power
is a steely professional determination to embrace the full range of her scope of practice, collaboratively, incrementally, and without any hint of ego.
HYGIENIST LORRAINE GIBB
Joining the practice in 2000, Lorraine shares – with our practice manager – an excep- tional capacity to understand the rele- vance of social and
emotional intelligence throughout general practice. Skilled communication with patients
and colleagues alike, accompanied by their active contribution, underlies all practice development. While plaque and calculus deposits
may regard Lorraine’s uncompromising attention to detail as thoroughly destruc- tive, the same reliable precision finds a more productive outlet outside the clinical
For further information regarding the award and the Premier Symposium, visit
www.dentalprotection.org or call 020 7399 1455.
field. An accomplished silversmith, she produces some of the finest jewellery. Mirroring her professional approach, the
detail of the pieces she designs reflects the accuracy and skills behind them. They are matched in intensity only by the depths of the darkest sense of humour and a disturbing ability to predict winners at the races with alarming frequency.
DENTAL NURSE TEAM LEADER TRACY IRVINE
Following 16 years in practice, Tracy joined us three years ago to lead our nursing team and she still continues to protest that the practice should share
her scepticism of her own leadership abilities. We simply ignore her. We are also happy to continue accepting
awards, on her behalf, for the collaborative approach she leads. Tracy appears not to have noticed
and we’re not going to spoil things by telling her. Abilities to lead by example and share
new knowledge amongst her colleagues, with nothing other than self-effacing generosity, did not appear on the original job description. With any luck, Adele will quietly make
the relevant additions to the employment file so the practice can take the entire credit for these, too.
Scottish Dental magazine 39
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