Incisa - Dental Practice Management for a Mixed NHS and Private Group
Practice System for an English Dental Group
Designed and built a clickable practice management system for a group of 15 mixed NHS and private dental practices in England: the practice day with UDA delivery against the contract, the appointment book, patient records with a Palmer or FDI dental chart and NHS and private treatment plans, and an FP17 claims queue that catches errors before the NHSBSA does.
Most of our work is under NDA. Per agreement, we can share the work but not the company details - all names and identifying information shown here have been changed.
Impact
Practice day, appointment book, patient list, the patient record with 11 tabs including the dental chart and treatment plans, and the FP17 claims queue with its claim panel.
Band 1, 2a, 2b, 2c and 3 earn 1, 3, 5, 7 and 12 UDAs, and from April 2026 urgent courses earn a fixed payment instead of UDAs. The patient charge is shown once per course, after any exemption.
Ready to send, validation errors, sent, accepted, queried, rejected and withdrawn, with days since completion amber after 30 and red after 50.
36 appointments on today's diary across 5 clinicians, 21 FP17 claims, a 16,800 UDA contract and one fully worked record with a charted mouth and a signed Band 3 plan.
The Problem
Wrenfold grew by buying independent practices, and each came with its own software: four systems, two of them no longer supported. Area managers learned how far a practice was behind its UDA target only when the NHSBSA schedule arrived, FP17 claims were rejected for missing exemption evidence or sent after the deadline, recalls were a flat six months for everyone, and decontamination logs and consent forms were on paper.
Our Solution
Incisa runs the whole patient journey in one system: booking, medical history, charting, NHS and private treatment plans with consent, clinical notes, radiograph records, FP17 claims, payments and recalls. Every screen keeps the NHS contract in view, so the practice sees its UDA position daily and fixes a claim before it is sent rather than after it comes back.
The Challenge: NHS and Private Care in One Chair
A mixed practice in England works to an NHS contract measured in Units of Dental Activity, national patient charges, NHSBSA claim rules and CQC inspection, while also selling private treatment and a membership plan to the same patients.
UDA Delivery Seen Too Late
Each practice commits to a number of UDAs for the financial year, with under- and over-delivery tolerances set by its own contract. UDAs count only when a course is completed, so a practice falling behind needs to know early, not when the NHSBSA schedule shows it too late in the year to recover.
Claims That Fail on Detail
Every completed NHS course goes to the NHSBSA on an FP17, generally within two months, with performer, band, dates, charge and any exemption. A missing evidence status, an unverified NHS number or a missing FP17DC date can get a claim queried or rejected and its value lost.
NHS and Private on the Same Plan
A patient in an NHS course can choose some treatment privately, but the practice must make the NHS option clear for anything clinically necessary. Since Montgomery, consent also needs material risks and reasonable alternatives, including no treatment.
Many Regulators, Many Records
GDC registration for every clinician, IR(ME)R justification and reports for every X-ray, HTM 01-05 decontamination logs, NICE recall intervals set by risk and UK GDPR for special category health data. Each one needs evidence a CQC inspector can see.
Our Approach: From NHS Dental Rules to a Clickable System
Spec and Rules Research
Mapped 10 user roles from receptionist and dental nurse to area manager and compliance lead, 44 screens across staff, a surgery check-in tablet and a patient portal, and the data model for contracts, chart entries, courses, treatment plans, consent, radiographs, exemptions, FP17 claims and recalls. Wrote down the rules the design follows: GDS and PDS contracts, charge bands, FP17 and FP17DC, exemptions, GDC registration, CQC, IR(ME)R, HTM 01-05, NICE CG19 and UK GDPR.
Clickable Demo on a Production UI Kit
Built 5 key screens on a production dashboard kit: the practice day with KPIs, the UDA year against the contract profile and work that changes by role, the appointment book with template shading and a next free slot finder, the patient list with a duplicate warning, the patient record with a Palmer or FDI chart and treatment plans, and the FP17 claims queue with fix and resend. All actions run on local state.
What a Production Build Adds
Integration with the NHSBSA by EDI or Compass, the NHS Personal Demographics Service after NHS England assurance, Dojo or Stripe Terminal at reception, Stripe in the portal, GoCardless Direct Debits, Firetext or Twilio and Postmark reminders, the imaging viewer for X-rays and Xero. Staff auth by role, an append-only audit log, migration from the four legacy systems, and the remaining screens: money, recalls, compliance, reports, the check-in tablet and the patient portal.
Why It Works: The Contract and the Chair on One Screen
UDAs Tracked Every Day
The practice day shows UDAs this month against the monthly profile and a chart of the year so far against the contract, with the projected year-end and the contract's own under-delivery tolerance drawn as a line.
Claims Fixed Before They Are Sent
Each claim row states its problem in plain language, such as an exemption claimed with no evidence status recorded. Only clean claims can be selected and sent, and the queue flags anything past the group's 30-day policy, well ahead of the NHS deadline.
NHS and Private Kept Apart
A treatment plan lists NHS items by band and private items with price and lab fee, shows the NHS charge once for the course, and sets up to three options side by side with plain notes on benefits and risks before it is proposed to the patient.
Clinical Safety in Plain Sight
Medical alerts such as warfarin or a penicillin allergy show in red on the diary and in the patient context bar, with medical history status, exemption, balance and recall due beside them. Diary blocks turn the lab icon red when a crown is not back for today's fit.
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Enterprise Software Engineering - Human + AI
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Enterprise Software Engineering - Human + AI
Contact Us
Locations
Global Headquarters
21 Merchant Road, 3rd Floor, Singapore 058267
Main corporate office and leadership operations
North America Office
548 Market Street, PMB 12345, San Francisco, CA 94104
Client operations and business development
India Office
402 Shivalik Shilp II, SG Highway, Ahmedabad 380015
Engineering and delivery center
© 2026 - Copyright. All Rights reserved Oceanlab