AN AMBITIOUS dental group has become the largest in Scotland by number of practices – despite being founded less than five years ago.
Now treating around one in 20 of the Scottish population, Clyde Munro Dental Group’s strategy of rapid growth through acquisition has proven hugely successful, seeing it now generate revenue of more than £20m a year, and continuing to grow on a monthly basis.
Since launching in 2015 with its first acquisition of seven dental practices, the Glasgow-headquartered group is now sitting at a total of 38 practices across the country, 17 of which were acquired during 2019.
The success of its exclusively Scottish-focused growth plan now sees a total of 165 associates engaged with the group and 320 staff employed across the group. It treats more than 300,000 patients across Scotland.
Jim Hall, founder and Chief Executive of the group, said: “From early on we identified the shortfalls of traditional dental groups and tailored our model accordingly.
“That’s why we believe it is imperative that we retain strong local roots in each individual practice and cater for their different needs.
“We’re delighted with how receptive the market has been with us and feel this is a key factor in our continuous rate of success.
“Simply put, dentists are struggling to keep on top of growing amounts of compliance and paperwork – and feel stifled and frustrated.
“Being a larger group, we can step in and support this, leaving them free to look after patients, or plan for their retirement safe in the knowledge their practice’s identity will remain.”
Becoming a part of a group is attractive to practices which are looking for help on the business side of things – dentists are often looking to relieve the pressure of HR, accounts, marketing, compliance and facilities management.
Clyde Munro’s ambition is to become Scotland’s “local dentist”, operating an expanding network of family dentists across Scotland, with each devoted to providing the best dental care, while reflecting the needs and character of its community, including remote and rural areas.
This is exemplified by its recent partnership with Orkney Dental, a highly-regarded three-practice operation that has transformed dental care in Orkney – an area previously blighted by a 15 year period without an NHS surgery.
With further expansion planned, local practices retain the names and identities they have built over many years, while enjoying the benefits of being part of a bigger group. It is building a reputation for investing in patients, communities, training and in the advances of digital dentistry.
Jim added: “As well as looking to what is new, it’s also vital we maintain focus on working with all of our practices, ensuring we help them to be at the cutting edge of patient care.
“It’s set to be an exciting 2020 for Clyde Munro – and we’ll all be striving to meet new ambitious targets and keep getting better and better at what we do.”