Where the coaching starts
A practice owner is usually the busiest clinician in the building as well as the person running it. The coaching works on the business side: the balance of NHS and private work, pricing, the associates and team, cash, and the plan for selling or handing over the practice.
The NHS and private mix.
NHS contract activity and private income behave differently. Financial Coaching with Peter Allen sets out what each earns per surgery hour, so decisions on the mix are made with the numbers.
Associates and the team.
Leadership Coaching works on the practice manager, associates and nursing team: who decides what, how performance is reviewed and how the owner spends less clinical time on management problems.
Your own surgery hours.
If you want to reduce your chair time, the coaching works out what the practice needs to earn without those hours and what has to be in place first.
Figures and rules for dental practice owners
Each figure links to its source, checked on 6 November 2026.
NHS charges rose on 1 April 2026.
In England and Wales, Band 1 is £27.90, Band 2 £76.60 and Band 3 £332.10 from 1 April 2026 (the 2026 Regulations).
NHS contracts are measured on UDAs.
If a contractor delivers 96% or more of its contracted units of dental activity and makes up the shortfall within the first 60 days of the next year, no financial action is taken. A practice that misses that tolerance in each of three years can expect commissioners to seek to reduce the contract (NHS England policy book).
Selling a practice with an NHS contract needs the commissioner.
A contract novation is often requested when a practice is sold, and incorporation or dis-incorporation could lead the commissioner to tender the contract competitively (NHS England policy book).
In Northern Ireland, health service registrations are falling.
At the end of March 2026 there were 351 practices with 1,180 dentists registered for health service treatment, and registered patients had fallen by 95,000 (9%) on a year earlier (Department of Health NI). RQIA lists 370 private dental treatment services (RQIA register, June 2026).
How the coaching runs
Coaching is one-to-one, fortnightly and ninety minutes at a time, by video or in person by appointment at the offices in East Finchley, Salford and Ballymena. It uses one method, Performance on Purpose, across four areas: personal, leadership, business and financial. Financial Coaching is delivered with Buzz Accounting. Every programme and its monthly fee is on the programmes page, and the Performance on Purpose scorecard shows where you sit before the free discovery call.
Frequently asked questions
Can coaching help me decide whether to move away from NHS work?
It can help you make the decision with the numbers in front of you. The sessions set out what NHS and private work each earn per surgery hour once associate pay, nurse time, materials and lab fees are counted, and what the practice would need from private patients to replace the contract income. They also cover the risks: patient reaction, the team’s view and the effect on the value of the practice. The decision is yours, and the clinical and contractual detail is a matter for your dental adviser and accountant. The coaching makes sure the business case is complete before you decide.
I spend too many hours on management between patients. Where would coaching start?
With a list of what you handled last week that was not clinical: staffing gaps, complaints, supplier issues, equipment, compliance paperwork and associate questions. Each item needs a person, a process or a decision rule so it stops reaching you. Leadership Coaching then works with the practice manager on the authority they need to handle those items, and on how you review their work without taking it back.
Can coaching help me prepare the practice for sale?
Yes. Buyers look at profit that does not depend on the owner’s own surgery hours, associate retention, the NHS contract position, patient numbers and the condition of the premises and equipment. Strategic Growth Coaching works through each of those in the years before a sale. Where an NHS contract is involved, the sale needs the commissioner’s agreement to a novation, so the timing matters. Tax on the sale is a matter for your accountant: Business Asset Disposal Relief is 18% from April 2026, and a lower lifetime limit has been announced from April 2027.
Book a free discovery call for your dental practice business.
The call with Andy Jackson is free and lasts 30 minutes. You leave with your position on the Performance on Purpose quadrant, your money, time and mind scores, and your top three priorities in writing.