CEO News, February 2023

Diversification and differentiation are key to a unique patient experience – what touch points do you have in your customer journey that surprise and delight? This is again a critical part of positive interaction and positive perception with your patient base.

Your practice staff are part of this seamless experience, so invest in recruiting well and retaining them over time with coaching, mentoring, and development. Having the right people on your team is a real advantage when it comes to patient experience.

What does value and trust mean to your patient base? Trust erosion can do serious damage to your business, so have real clarity around who your patients are and what it is they value the most. By extension, building goodwill in your local community is another way to increase trust.

Results To Date

January numbers recorded a 14.8% increase, which is an outstanding result as we stop comparing this year results with last year lockdown comparisons. Subject to ongoing consumer confidence, the months ahead are expected to remain buoyant before an eventual downturn or stagnation as stated above.

After the first seven months of FY23, members are up by 11.8% (coming off a low base last year in key lockdown states). Whilst there is still some residual impact from key state lockdowns the previous year in 2021, overall, the January result is a strong one nationally. Year-to-date notes a decrease in overall performance since November, but this is primarily a by-product of the correction as we make our way out of lockdown anniversaries