In times like this it is always best to turn to those who have a deep understanding of how the Dental Industry has been affected (or not) by financial upheaval in the past, but who is also close to the decision makers in the financial markets who are living with the effects of Brexit. LHPS would like to thank Ray Cox of Medifinance for the following insight.
The country has voted and the dye is cast!
Well if anyone thought that calm and reason would prevail after Brexit they have been sorely disappointed and indeed the worst predictions of economic fallout have been surpassed only by the political turmoil, especially that engulfing the Labour Party.
But equally life goes on and all of us involved in dentistry must continue with our practices and businesses and everything that is involved with making us successful.
Looking at things from a financial viewpoint I can see very little that is going to change after this initial period of discomfort whilst the government and institutions adjust to the changed situation out of the EU. It is unlikely that any other EU member apart from Germany could have even considered an exit on economic grounds but the UK economy is robust and as long as the doom mongers do not continue to ‘talk it down’ the period of relative instability should pass fairly quickly.
Early indications are that interest rates are unlikely to change upwards or downwards in the short term and lending policy at least into our dental market remains unchanged. We have taken soundings from a number of financial institutions specialising in lending to dentists and the general consensus is business as usual. Healthcare in general is considered a fairly safe haven for lenders and is likely to be affected less badly even if some short term tightening of monetary policy is affected.
It should be remembered that the dental market survived the 2008 crash remarkably well and there is no reason for it to be different with Brexit, with the banks all in very strong capital positions and the Bank of England ready and able to provide strong support to the economy as a whole.
So should dentists still consider buying practices and investing in new modern equipment? My answer is yes, but I am a businessman not a politician!
