Rhona MacLean

Clinical Support Service Manager

I am responsible for the management and operation of our dedicated call handling team based in Truro, of our team of decontamination technicians/courier drivers who cover our practice locations right across the county, and of our out of hours service. These are all busy teams, so I make sure everything is running smoothly and effectively for our patients and other callers, our clinical colleagues and of course the team members themselves.

Leading these teams of individuals, all highly skilled and experienced, and all very passionate about delivering the very best patient care, is so rewarding. However, it can also be challenging, not least making sure we consistently operate in line with our company ethos, standards and expectations – our agreed ‘way of doing things’ whilst accommodating (where possible) colleagues’ individual ideas for service improvement in our employee-owned business.

I primarily spend my time between our Truro and Bodmin practices to ensure we are responsive and maintaining the highest of clinical and operational standards, meeting all clinical governance requirements, driving service developments and just being there for any of my colleagues. Aside from the day job, I’m a member of the company’s Impact Action Group, helping to drive our social and environmental impact.

I began dental nursing after leaving school, through a family connection, I gave it a try and then headed off to study an HND in Fine Art at college! However, dentistry had clearly resonated with me as I then returned to dental nursing. A career of over 20 years now. In my time prior to joining Smile Together working in the Highlands of Scotland where, as in Cornwall, there is limited access to NHS dentistry, I was lucky to work in practice with a very entrepreneurial dentist. Together we successfully opened, built up and sold sustainable dental practices wherever patients needed us, in a mix of rural, town and city locations across Scotland providing a combination of NHS and private dentistry.  Over this period, I progressed into more of a practice management role and alongside nursing I ran the practices, developing and implementing clinical, governance and operational policies and procedures, supported recruitment, management and team building, patient acquisition, and project management, generally making things happen.  When that dentist retired, my partner and I decided we’d have a complete change too and moved to Cornwall – for us both it very quickly felt like home.

I was so pleased to join Smile Together where no two days are the same – it’s an amazingly varied role presenting multiple challenges which I love. It’s a very different dental company to what I’ve experienced elsewhere – certainly not your traditional ‘corporate’ – it has a different vision and is all about the patients, with exciting opportunities for us to reach further into the local community. I love being able to make a difference, so this is a perfect match for my personal and professional ethos. To anyone considering working for Smile Together I’d say, ‘come and join our family’.

Outside of work I enjoy walking coastal footpaths, yoga and everything plants – house, garden and allotment.