In this issue...

Latest PPS Features

Our Web Site

Employee Focus

Case Study - Project Trinidad!

Employment Issues

Back Issues

Did You Know?

PPS is used by more than 1350 clinics.

We are the only "patient and practice management" software supplier to have a newsletter and an on-line user forum!

Welcome to the
Private Practice Software Newsletter - February 2009

Well the winter finally seems to have had its say in February with most of the UK covered in snow for a while! Still, spring now seems to be firmly on its way, and we can hopefully look forward to brighter and warmer days ahead!

We have had another busy year since the last newsletter, and there is still lots going on and lots of news to bring you! In this issue we look at the latest PPS features and details of the latest PPS Version. More...

Have you seen our Web Site recently? Our Web Site provides more information about us and PPS, and even allows you to purchase on-line! More...

As we continue to grow as a company, we invite you to meet another member of our team. More...

Our on-site training services take us to some excellent places. Read all about one of our recent trips. More...

Are you an employer? Do you have to address issues such as staff holiday entitlements and sick pay? We may just be able to help you... More...

Latest PPS Features -

Since the last newsletter, we have been busy working away on the next major new release to PPS v4. We have released 11 new versions (including more than 100 new features) to a small selection of "beta" test users during this period. The next new release of PPS is due out very soon and is version 4.0.53. If you have a PPS Support Contract, you will be able to download and install this update free of charge. More enhancements are always in the pipeline, and we are planning more new releases this year already, so keep your ideas coming in. Here's a summary of some of the new features for you to look forward to.

Send Invoices or Letters directly via E-Mail E-Mail your invoices or letters directly to clients or third-parties without printing and posting! Published to PDF format, they are easily printed or read by the recipient in professional quality.
Custom Forms Custom forms can now be accessed directly without the need to associate the form with a consultation record. This enables you to broaden your use of forms to areas not just specific to a consultation, for example your own style of client registration and case history form.
New Diary Options New features to the PPS Appointments Diary, include: Diary view by "discipline" - useful for multi-disciplinary clinics. You can also select to "hide" columns in the diary where practitioners are not available. New options to select your own highlight colours for various appointment types, notes, and blocked out time.
New Reports Options Customise the output of any report directly into MS Excel; Choose which columns you want to export and in which order. Produce reports based upon your Custom Forms; Design your own reports directly into Excel.
Estimates and Quotations Prepare an estimate or quotation for a client. PPS is used in a wide variety of clinical applications, and many of our clients routinely prepare estimates for work in advance. If you have discussed important treatment work in advance with a client, you are now able to offer the client a printed (or e-mailed) estimate. The estimate can be quickly transferred into charges and invoiced to the client immediately.
PPS Task Bar Customise the PPS Task bar (the blue bar down the left side of the screen). Each system user can have their own preferred options included in the task bar.
Bar Code Scanners Use PPS at "point-of-sale" with a bar-code scanner. You can buy a number of cost-effective handheld scanners that will work immediately with PPS.
Documents and E-Mails Drag and drop any document from Windows or E-mails from MS Outlook directly into PPS to store these on the Client Log screen.
Third Party Log Screen All Accounts and Activities associated with third-parties can now be accessed easily from one screen. This operates similar to the current Client Log screen.

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Did you know?...

PPS is the only "patient and practice management" software supplier in the UK that allows you to purchase on-line.

The PPS Web Site

Have you seen the PPS web site yet? Last year we completely revised and launched our new web site with a new look and feel. There are many new exciting sections on the web site including plenty of client testimonials where you can read what our clients say about us! You can also read about the full range of services we offer and keep up-to-date with our latest news.

You can register and log into the web site completely free! As a PPS user you also have access to additional resources and information.

The PPS Web Site

Not purchased PPS yet?

If you have not yet purchased PPS, you can now do so on-line. Within minutes you can purchase your PPS licence, download and install the software and be ready to go!

Already use PPS?

If you already use PPS, then you can take advantage of our new web site in a variety of ways. By logging in you will be able to check and update your current PPS system configuration and purchase upgrades and add-ons to your software.

In addition you can also send a support ticket to our support team, and have access to extra help guides and downloads.

If you are not sure how to log in to our web site, simply click here!

If you want to take a quick look at the web site now, simply click here!

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James Austin
Derby County FC

Employee Focus

James Austin - Support Services Manager

We would like to introduce James as one of our team members! James joined us in July 2008 and is our Support Services Manager. He looks after all aspects of our support services from day-to-day management of our busy support desk through to managing larger PPS installations, corporate installations, and multiple-clinic PPS systems.

Since James joined us, he has appointed a further member of staff, Ryan, to our support desk. In this time there has been excellent improvement to our support desk both in terms of the services we are able to offer and the speed with which support calls can be attended to. The appointment of James to this key role is a great step towards our goals for the highest level of support for our clients.

We would also like to congratulate James and his wife on the very recent birth of their twin sons. James is arriving at work very bleary-eyed at the moment - and is foolish enough to predict that "this won't last long, things will be back to normal soon"!

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Doctors' Inn
Port of Spain
Trinidad

Click here to visit the Web Site

On-Site Training

Case Study - Project Trinidad

In November 2008, we had a very successful trip to Port of Spain in Trinidad to visit CVA Ltd. - a group of clinics providing general medical and surgical services. The task was to train all staff to use PPS, and to advise on various procedures toward the implementation of PPS fully throughout the clinics.

We were hosted by Dr Ronald Henry, Consultant Cardiologist and proprietor of CVA Ltd. Dr Henry and his team of more than 20 Doctors and Health Care Professionals operate a very busy practice that includes general medicine and pre and post operative care.

Our trip was for three days and was mostly spent at Doctors' Inn which is their main multi-disciplinary clinic in downtown Port of Spain. During our stay we carried out several classroom-style training courses to teach all members of staff, Nurses and Doctors in the use of PPS. We also spent time in consultation with various key managers and senior Doctors at the clinic working on procedures for fully implementing PPS throughout the Practice in various departments including the Doctors' Consulting rooms, the Nurses rooms, the Pharmacy, Accounts department and Admin.

CVA employ their own full-time IT manager, Chris Eugene. We also spent time with Chris reviewing the practice hardware and networking to ensure that everything was working well for the clinic.

In addition to the Doctors' Inn clinic, CVA also provide medical and surgical services from other locations and hospitals. PPS is also used in these locations so we also spent some time visiting other locations for PPS implementation and training.

Doctor Henry, members of his team, and the PPS team at Doctors' Inn!

We would like to say a big thank you to Dr Henry and his team for providing us with excellent hospitality and for making our trip most enjoyable - despite working us very hard!

CVA is an excellent testimonial site for PPS in the Caribbean and we really hope to have the opportunity of visiting the clinic and meeting the team again in the future.

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Contact us register your interest!

click here to email us

Employment Issues

Are you employing full-time or part-time staff? Are you faced with the following questions?

• What are the rights and responsibilities of employers and employees?
• What does the new statutory minimum holiday entitlement mean to me?
• What should go in a Written Statement of Terms and Conditions of Employment?
• What is the difference between unfair dismissal and wrongful dismissal?

We know that most of our clients don't employ enough people to be able to justify an in-house specialist on employment matters. We are able to offer as an extension to our normal range of services, an employment advice service.

Whilst we don't have an in-house employment lawyer, we do have within our extended team, a consultant who is particularly experienced in advising small employers on employment issues.

We would be most interested in hearing from you even if you do not have a specific query at this time. This will help to gauge the general level of interest in this service. Click the link below to register your interest

I think that this will be a useful service!

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