DT News - UK - Net profits rise, with NHS and private practices leaping ahead

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Net profits rise, with NHS and private practices leaping ahead

On average, mixed practices lag behind by nearly £10,000 in profits compared with their NHS or private counterparts. (Photograph: Maryna Pleshkun/Shutterstock)

Thu. 22 March 2018

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LONDON, UK: New figures presented by the National Association of Specialist Dental Accountants and Lawyers (NASDAL) on Tuesday have shown profits widening between mixed practices and practices that solely focus on NHS or private work. On average, mixed practices lag behind by nearly £10,000 compared with their NHS or private counterparts, which according to the organisation is a significant but not huge gap.

Practices in the UK overall saw net profits rising last year, with larger practices coming out tops with £143,446 per principal, compared with £138,511 in 2016. Profits of practices without associates by contrast only increased slightly, from £105,914 to £107,896 per principal.

Private and NHS practices performed equally well, with an increase in profits of almost 5[S1]  per cent, NASDAL said.

“It may be controversial to say but might the gap be explained by NHS practices maximising profits by concentrating on NHS dentistry with a low-cost base and private practices maximis

ing profits by offering higher value treatments, whereas, mixed practices could be left offering private dentistry at nearer to NHS prices and therefore seeing lower profits?” asked Ian Simpson, a chartered accountant and partner in Humphrey and Co., which carries out the statistical exercise.“Perhaps mixed practices fall into the all too common business trap of losing focus and not being entirely clear on who they are and what they deliver to their patients,” he suggested.

The figures were taken from NASDAL’s latest annual Benchmarking Report, which was based on 2017 tax returns and accounts with year-ends up to 5 April 201.

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