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The Two Receptionist Problem

I was treating a private equity investor one afternoon when he asked, with genuine curiosity, why we employed two receptionists when technology could easily let us get by with one.Fair question. After all, this is a man whose job involves finding inefficiencies in businesses and eliminating them. He sees a line item that could be halved and naturally wonders: why the waste?I explained that we don’t want to sacrifice robustness for efficiency. We need contingency for when someone is ill, when the phones are running off the hook, or when a patient needs extra attention. If our focus is to provide an exceptional patient experience and a great place to work, then carrying a little fat is healthy. It’s what will ensure we’re still here in twenty years, still doing good work.Patients can feel the difference. They know when they’re in a place that isn’t stripped to its bones. They sense when the atmosphere is calm, welcoming, and unhurried. They notice when staff are cared for. That creates trust, and in healthcare, trust is everything.He nodded politely. I could see him thinking: soft. Sentimental. Inefficient.Perhaps. But I’ll try to explain why I think ownership matters in healthcare.

Batting for both sides?

I’ve been on both sides of this, having bought and sold clinics. I’ve sat in rooms with private equity-backed buyers who wanted to roll up a hundred physiotherapy practices into a portfolio. Smart people, impressive spreadsheets, beautifully polished pitch decks with stock photos of diverse patients looking happy.Not once - literally not one single time - did any of them articulate a guiding principle of providing excellent patient care for reasonable profit. The question was always: how do we maximise profit with an aim to exit in five years?