From dental nurse to Area Manager: how Riverdale helped me build a career in operations

By Kathryn Henderson, Area Manager at Riverdale Healthcare

Summary

After starting her dental career as a dental nurse, Kathryn Henderson moved into retail management, HR and operations before returning to dentistry through a career at Bupa. After she moved to Riverdale Healthcare, she was able to bring those experiences together as an Area Manager, supporting 16 practices across the North East while helping other people explore careers in dentistry and develop their own paths forward.

My career started in dentistry before taking a different direction

I started my career in dentistry in 1995 and qualified as a dental nurse in 1997.

I worked in a dental hospital until around 2005, after I had my daughter. At that point, the hours were difficult to balance with family life, so I decided to move away from dentistry for a while.

That took me into retail, where I joined B&Q in one of their larger stores. I started in kitchen sales, but over time moved into different management roles, including checkout management, profit protection and HR.

At the time, it felt like a completely different direction. Looking back, it was one of the most important parts of my career.

Explore current career opportunities at Riverdale and see where a dental career could take you.

Retail helped me build the management skills I use every day

Dentistry gave me the clinical background, but retail helped me understand the operational side of running a business.

In retail, I learned a lot about:

Managing teams
Working towards targets
Understanding profit and loss
Dealing with HR issues
Supporting people through difficult conversations
Keeping standards consistent across a busy environment

I also completed a Level 5 CIPD HR management qualification, which gave me a stronger foundation in people management.

That experience helped me understand where my strengths were. I realised I enjoyed compliance, HR, operations and working closely with people to solve problems.

When my children were older, I started thinking about returning to dentistry. I still liked the clinical world, but I also knew I wanted to stay in management. For me, the next step was about bringing those two sides of my experience together.

Riverdale Healthcare saw how my different skills could fit into a bigger role

Before joining Riverdale, I returned to dentistry as a Practice Manager at Bupa. That role helped everything come together. I was back in a dental environment, but I was also using the management, HR and operational skills I had built outside dentistry.

After a couple of years, I felt ready for the next step. I was hitting my KPIs, including NHS targets and revenue targets, but there wasn’t really a clear route for further progression. I had heard there were development opportunities at Riverdale, so I applied for a Practice Manager role to get my foot in the door.

During the recruitment process, Riverdale Healthcare looked at my CV and recognised that my wider experience could fit a different role. Before I even started, I was offered a Regional Support Manager position instead.

That made a big difference to me. It showed that Riverdale Healthcare was willing to look at the skills I had built across my whole career and how those could be applied to practice support – not just the job title I had applied for.

Since then, my role has continued to develop. I started by supporting eight practices, then moved into an Operations Lead role, and now work as an Area Manager supporting 16 practices across the Newcastle and Gateshead area.

As an Area Manager, I support practices by understanding how they actually work

My role now covers a wide range of operational responsibilities across 16 dental practices.

That includes:

Supporting 12 Practice Managers
Helping practices deliver their NHS contracts
Monitoring private revenue and plan performance
Managing compliance
Making sure equipment issues are resolved quickly
Supporting teams with operational or HR challenges
Working closely with clinical leads and senior leadership

A big part of the role is making sure practices are delivering their NHS contracts. Each contract has a set number of UDAs, which are units of dental activity. If a practice does not deliver the required number, there can be financial consequences, so it is important that we monitor performance and support teams where needed.

Some practices are mainly NHS, some are private, and some are a mix of both. Each site has different priorities, different pressures and different teams, so you cannot manage them all in exactly the same way.

That is why I spend a lot of time out in our practices. I work from home for admin one or two days a week, but most of my time is spent visiting sites and speaking directly with Practice Managers, clinicians and team members.

You cannot support a practice properly from a distance. You need to understand the people, the contract, the building, the patients and the day-to-day challenges.

Because I started as a dental nurse, I understand what it feels like to work in practice. Because I have worked in retail management and HR, I also understand how to look at performance, people and operations together.

That combination is what helps me do my role.

Riverdale Healthcare gives people access to support at every level

One of the biggest differences I have found at Riverdale Healthcare is how accessible people are.

In previous roles, it could sometimes be difficult to get hold of the right person. At Riverdale, people are approachable at every level.

I work closely with my line manager, Paula Graham, who is Chief Operating Officer, as well as with Neeraj Diddee, Regional Clinical Director. Neeraj still works clinically as a dentist, which is really valuable because he understands what is happening in practice from a clinical point of view.

My role is operational, but clinical and operational decisions often overlap. If there is something I cannot answer, or something that needs a clinical view, I can involve Neeraj and work through it properly.

That access makes a real difference. It means decisions are more joined up, and it means people feel supported rather than isolated. It is also something I try to pass on in my own role. I want my Practice Managers and teams to know they can come to me, ask questions and get support when they need it.

I want to keep helping driven people move forward

I love seeing others have the same career development opportunities I have. At Riverdale Healthcare, progression does not have to follow one fixed route – dentists have access to training through Riverdale Academy, but there are also huge opportunities to grow in operational roles.

I have seen people join with no dentistry experience and move forward because they are driven, capable and willing to learn. One person I recruited as a receptionist had worked in healthcare, but not dentistry. She progressed into a Practice Manager role and is now deputising for me while she learns more about becoming an Area Manager.

That is the kind of progression Riverdale can support. My own next step is still developing, but longer term I would like to move into a more senior operational role, supporting Area Managers and helping shape how practices are supported across a wider region.

Explore careers at Riverdale

Riverdale has given me the opportunity to combine my dental background with the management, HR and operational skills I developed elsewhere.

Whether you already work in dentistry, are returning after time away, or have built skills in another sector, there may be more opportunities than you realise.