Starting a new private practice is an exciting, but demanding endeavor. It’s easy to get caught up in day-to-day responsibilities, making it difficult to step back and focus on the bigger picture. However, taking the time to lay a strong foundation is essential for long-term success.
To deliver the high quality care and environment your prospective patients expect, and that you aspire to offer, you need a clear vision and a well-thought-out strategy. From defining your goals and setting up efficient systems, to creating a welcoming patient experience and building your brand, every decision plays a role in shaping your practice.
Thoughtful planning now ensures you’re not just opening a practice – you’re building a thriving, sustainable business that aligns with your values and meets the needs of your community.
At Designated Medical, our expert team is on-hand to guide you through the essentials of running a private practice, providing a clear roadmap of the key steps involved.
Here are our top tips for building a successful business strategy:
Defining Your Vision
The journey begins with vision-setting. What do you want your clinic to look like in 3 to 5 years? Whether your goal is to operate a single bespoke clinic or a multi-location practice, it’s crucial to identify your drivers, ideal work-life balance, team structure, and the patient demographic you aim to serve. The clarity of this vision serves as your north star, guiding business decisions along the way.
Value Proposition and Unique Selling Points (USPs)
A strong value proposition is central to attracting and retaining patients. Define what services your clinic will offer, who your patients will be, and how your approach addresses their specific needs. Articulating this clearly helps set your clinic apart from competitors and forms the foundation of your brand identity.
Unique Selling Points (USPs) further reinforce your clinic’s appeal in a crowded marketplace. Factors such as the reputation of clinicians, specialist services, pricing structure, and patient experience all play a role in why a patient would choose your clinic over another.
Planning for Success: ACTOMS Framework
The ACTOMS framework helps structure your planning:
- Ambition: What are you aiming to achieve?
- Challenges: What hurdles must you overcome?
- Target Audience: Who are your ideal patients?
- One Key Message: What is the core idea you want to communicate?
- Media: What channels will you use to reach your audience?
- Success: How will you define and measure success?
Competitive Positioning and Pricing
Understanding your competitors and their market positioning allows you to differentiate your own offerings effectively. Mapping out where your clinic sits; premium vs. affordable, generalist vs. specialist, will help determine your brand’s tone, pricing strategy, and marketing efforts.
When pricing your services, consider direct costs, market demand, specialisation, and competitor pricing. Avoid aggressive discounting and instead focus on delivering value through high-quality services and patient care.
Business Planning and Financial Management
A robust business plan and detailed budget are key to sustainability. This should cover:
- Revenue streams (consultations, tests, procedures, product sales)
- Cost of sales
- Overheads (staff, rent, IT, legal, marketing)
- Key resources and partners (e.g. management systems, recruitment, insurance)
A Business Model Canvas is a useful tool to map out your operations, value proposition, customer segments, and more.
Operational Structure and Daily Management
Defining roles and responsibilities is critical for seamless day-to-day operations. A typical clinic team may include a Founder/Clinical Director, Practice Manager, Medical Secretary, clinicians, and administrative support staff. Clarify how each role contributes to the patient journey; from first contact to post-treatment follow-up.
Tracking Success with KPIs
To ensure you’re on the right track, set clear metrics:
- New patient acquisitions
- Website and phone enquiries
- Patient retention and referrals
- Consultation numbers
- Revenue and 5-star reviews
Monitoring these indicators will provide insights into what’s working and where to improve.
Patient Experience and Marketing
Patients evaluate clinics based on several touchpoints: first impressions, clinician reputation, referral sources, pricing clarity, and overall care. Craft your patient journey to ensure it is smooth, supportive, and engaging.
Invest in your brand identity, digital presence, and referral networks. A well-communicated and consistent message about your USPs and values will help you reach and retain your target audience effectively.
Next Steps …
- Take advantage of our free 45-min consultation with our experts, who have a proven track record in private practice management, and will be able to provide you with practical help and guidance on building a successful private practice quickly and effectively, to book your session please email info@designatedmedical.com
- Join our Private Practice Success WhatsApp group, a space where you can easily keep in touch, share information and ask questions with colleagues.
- Register for our ‘Building a Successful Private Practice’ series of free webinars.
Get in touch today
Preparing for a registration interview with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) is a critical step in becoming a registered provider, manager, or nominated individual of a health or social care service in England.
Here Designated Medical’s CQC Compliance Consultant, Gabi Ashton, shares her expertise on ‘How to Prepare for a Successful CQC Registration Interview.’
The interview is designed to assess your suitability, knowledge, and readiness to operate a service that meets the CQC’s regulatory requirements and fundamental standards.
A successful interview not only demonstrates your understanding of relevant legislation and best practices, but also your commitment to delivering high-quality, person-centred care. Careful preparation will help you approach the interview with confidence and clarity.
How to be ‘Interview Ready’ – what you need:
- Have your ID and DBS Certificate to hand.
- Have a copy of your CQC application form, including your Statement of Purpose which outlines your Regulatory Conditions and the Roles and Responsibilities you have applied for.
- Be confident with the Notification Requirements (Registration Regulations 2009).
- Be self-assured with the Fundamental Standards, Key Questions and Quality Statements (Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014) (always suggest using a blank sheet, to ensure they have been discussed as they work through your examples).
Prepare for a STAR! Using the STAR method is a great approach to ensure clear, structured responses that demonstrate your competence:
S – situation
T – task
A – action
R – result
The Importance of Demonstrating Five Quality Statements
It is vital to include the following:
- People and communities are always at the centre of how care is planned and delivered.
- The health and care needs of people and communities are understood, and they are actively involved in planning care that meets these needs.
- Care, support and treatment is easily accessible, including physical access. People can access care in ways that meet their personal circumstances and protected equality characteristics.
- People, those who support them, and staff can easily access information, advice and advocacy. This supports them in managing and understanding their care and treatment.
- There is partnership working to make sure that care and treatment meets the diverse needs of communities. People are encouraged to give feedback, which is acted upon and used to deliver improvements.
Interview Questions – ‘Safe’ Examples:
- What would you do on a home visit if there was an incident?
- After a serious incident has taken place, what steps will you follow?
- How would you investigate an allegation of abuse? What areas are within your remit to address and what areas are not?
- How do you work with people to understand and manage risk as independently as possible?
- Can you give examples of classes of medications you would prescribe?
- What processes are in place to ensure all premises and equipment used are kept clean, secure, suitable, and used properly?
Summary:
Take the time to learn the legislation that underpins the CQC.
Registration is key – you need to be confident with how you will demonstrate compliance in line with the Fundamental Standards. You must show that your approach is bespoke and not ‘off the shelf’.
Don’t stop learning and improving once you are registered!
Next steps…
Speak to the Designated Medical Team
Join our community of practitioners on WhatsApp who are moving into private practice and share ideas and knowledge.
Get in touch today
As the tax year closes on Saturday 5 April, we’ve outlined some top tips on how to get you where you need to be, so that you and your finances can thrive in the 2025 – 2026 tax year!
- 2020/21 tax year – this is your last chance to claim your professional expenses for this period!
- ISAs – everyone has a £20,000 a year allowance to put into ISAs, and this resets on 6 April so make sure, if you can, to maximise using this allowance. You can use cash ISAs or stocks and shares ISAs and up to £4,000 of the £20,000 allowance can also be invested in a Lifetime ISA, if applicable. Any income from interest or dividends will be tax-free if within an ISA; and any capital gains in an ISA will be free from Capital Gains Tax.
- Transfer of assets – you can transfer from one spouse (or civil partner) to the other with no Capital Gains Tax or Inheritance Tax consequences. If one spouse pays income tax at a lower tax rate than the other, is there scope to transfer any income generating assets such that the income generated is taxed at a lower rate? If you do have assets generating taxable interest, dividends or capital gains (e.g. those not already inside an ISA), then tax savings can be had if the lower taxed spouse pays tax on the income instead of the higher taxed spouse.
- Adjusted net income – if your taxable income (this would include any employment income after your NHS pension and professional expenses, less grossed up Gift Aid contributions and Personal Pension Contributions) exceeds £100,000, you start to lose your personal allowance resulting in a marginal tax rate of 60%, or 67.5% in Scotland. You also lose any tax-free childcare if you are claiming this as soon as you go over £100,000.
- Pension – NHS staff have finally received pay uplifts. However, the pensions annual allowance will impact a lot more senior doctors in the 2024-25 tax year. If your income from all sources less pension contributions is going to be over £200,000, then you may have a tapered annual allowance. With time running out, there may not be a lot that can be done, but for anyone close to the £200,000 level, it may be worth checking your numbers and discussing strategy options with your accountant/financial advisor.
- CGT allowance – in the 2024-25 tax year, the CGT tax-free Annual Allowance is £3,000 (cut from £6,000 last tax year). If you have any shares sitting at a capital gain that will be subject to CGT, that you intend to sell, then consider selling some of the shares before 6 April 2025 and some after, to use the 2024/25 Annual Allowance before you lose it. Of course this may not be easy to do, many assets are not liable to CGT anyway (including shares in ISAs) and you should only sell an asset if you want or need to (not because of tax), but it is something to think about and take further advice on if needed.
- Inheritance tax – if you are at the stage where you are considering the inheritance tax liabilities that your loved ones may pay when you pass away, make sure you utilise your yearly annual exemption of £3,000. You can also use the annual exemption from the tax year before if not already used.
- National insurance contributions – don’t forget you need a minimum of 35 years of National Insurance contributions to get the full new state pension payment. If a taxpayer does not have enough full years of NI contributions, this will likely affect their state pension. Usually you can only go back 6 tax years to make voluntary contributions to fill any gaps in your record. However, the government is currently allowing people to make voluntary contributions for any gaps they may have all the way back to 6 April 2006. You can make a voluntary contribution of £15.85 per week which is basically £824.20 to make the year a qualifying one and should add 1/35th to your state pension. From 6 April 2025 the timeframe for making voluntary contributions will revert to the usual 6 years, so it will only be possible to go back to the 2019/20 tax year or after; the rate of payment will increase to £17.45 per year or just over £900 to fill a year. You may therefore want to check your State Pension Record for any gaps – if there are any, you may then wish to consider whether or not it would be beneficial to make a voluntary contribution before this tax year ends.
If you missed our previous webinar: ‘Preparing for the 2025 Tax Year: Financial Tips for UK Doctors’, you can request a FREE copy of our e-brochure with a recording link, by simply emailing us at: info@designatedmedical.com
Get in touch today for a complimentary financial health check
If you would like to take the opportunity to review the financial health of your private practice, our accountants are on-hand to understand your personal situation, and provide you with expert information and advice.
Vicky Garbett is Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at Designated Medical, and leads the accounting, finance and billing teams. A fully qualified Management Accountant, she helps doctors with their finances, and setting up profitable and successful private practices.
Here Vicky shares her expertise on ‘How UK Doctors Can Pay Less Tax in 2025-2026’.
What taxes do doctors need to be aware of?
As a UK doctor, you need to be aware of several types of tax, including:
- Income Tax – Basic (20%), Higher (40%), Additional rate (45%)
- National Insurance (NI)
- Pension Tax
- Capital Gains Tax (CGT)
- Dividend Tax (if you have investments or a limited company)
- VAT (many medical services are exempt)
- Self-Assessment Tax Return (31st January submissions)
- Corporation Tax (9 months after Year End)
What were the key November 2024 budget takeaways?
- Employer National Insurance (NI) Contributions will be increased to 15% from April 2025
- Employers to start paying NI for employees at £5,000 compared to current £9,100
- Impact: a 3% increase on all staff costs
- Inflation is currently running between 2.5% to 3% in the UK
- Employee pay rises may be limited with many companies using profits to counter increased corporate tax burden
- Employers considering redundancies and/or replacing full-time employees with more part-time staff or contractors
Corporation tax and capital allowances:
- Corporation tax will stay at 25% for the remainder of this Parliament (previously 19%)
- For a company making £100,000 profit, in broadest terms the tax liability has gone from £19,000 to £25,000
BUT is this all bad news?
- For capital allowances, full expensing will be maintained along with the £1m Annual Investment Allowance
- The Government will also consult on the tax treatment of pre-development costs
- Exploring the extension of full expensing to assets bought for leasing, when fiscal conditions allow
Plant and machinery qualify for AIA and includes:
- Business cars and vans
- Computers and office equipment
- Heating, lighting, lifts, air-conditioning, fitted kitchens, fire alarm and CCTV systems
- Costs of demolishing/altering plant and machinery
Effective Pension Planning
How to optimise your tax savings:
- Contributions from your limited company into your pension are classed as a business expense
- You don’t pay income tax or national insurance contributions to your pension, but you do on salary or dividends
- Directors can pay £60k tax free (income under £200k) into their pension and reduce corporation tax
- £60k per director per year can be carried back 3 years
- Income over £200k comes with a tapered allowance
Company Cars
You can claim one of the following:
- The full value of the car as 100% first-year allowances
- 18% of the car’s value (main rate allowances)
- 6% of the car’s value (special rate allowances)
When you purchase the car, its CO2 emissions determine the rate you can claim.
Car Benefits in Kind (BIK)
- Benefit in Kind (BIK) for electric vehicles (EVs) will increase over the next 5 years
- BUT, it’s staying much lower for EVs than for petrol, diesel, and hybrid vehicles
- For non-EVs, it’s increasing quite dramatically
| Current BIK |
| Electric Car 2% |
| Hybrid Car 13% |
| Non Electric Car 30% |
| 2029 BIK |
| Electric Car 9% |
| Hybrid Car 19% |
| Non Electric Car 39% |
Limited companies and tax benefits
- Director Payroll and/or Dividends
- Director Life Insurance
- Company Car (BIK)
- Director Medical Insurance (BIK)
- Director Pension allowance
- Salary Sacrifice Schemes
- Cycle to Work Schemes
Summary – tips for smarter financial planning
- Pension/Investment options
- Legal structure – limited company
- Maximise tax allowances and reliefs
- Use tax-efficient investment strategies
- Plan smartly for high income scenarios
Next steps…
Speak to the Designated Medical Team
We offer a free 45-min consultation with our expert team, who will provide you with help and guidance setting up your private practice.
Join our community of practitioners on WhatsApp who are moving into private practice and share ideas and knowledge.