Dina Woolley was just half a day into a new job as a medical secretary at a UK hospital when the colleague showing her the IT systems announced she was leaving – the next day. It was the summer of 2001 and Dina, aged 26 and newly-arrived from South Africa only days before, took the initiative.
She crammed in as much information as she could that afternoon; then, before leaving for the night, she printed the manual for the DGL Practice Manager software used by the hospital. “I printed the whole manual, took it home and read it from start to finish, cover to cover,” recalls Dina, an IT novice at the time.
I got into work early the next morning, 7.30am, and spent an hour and a half fiddling with what I could and couldn’t do [with the software]. And that’s how I taught myself in the job,” she says, laughing. “I have always had a hunger for learning, a hunger to explore.”
Almost 23 years on, DGL software is a core component of Dina’s own business, Practice Management Outsourcing Limited, based in Hampshire. Dina, a gregarious mother of three, licenses the DGL software to provide end-to-end practice management for consultants across a range of medical disciplines.
“I manage the practices in their entirety, from being the first point of contact for patients; doing the appointments; liaising with different hospitals, clinicians and their secretaries; booking surgery; doing the billing and accounts; and marketing the consultants’ practices,” she explains. “Having brilliant practice management software in DGL is pivotal to my role.”
The virtual practice manager software was initially developed in the early 1990s by DGL Solutions, which became part of the Clanwilliam in 2013. One of the highest regarded IT systems for medical consultants, the DGL platform has been augmented with continuous innovation and additional functionality.
“DGL does everything I need under one platform. It is clear, concise, very user-friendly.” says Dina. “I can see a patient’s full correspondence, letters from clinicians, any scanned documents like MRI, CT or X-ray. I can email out of DGL, I can drag and drop [documents] into the patient file.”
The DGL accounting software integrates easily with other platforms, which allows Dina to do client billing accurately and concisely. She is a particular fan of the DGL dictation feature, which saves her time and allows her to be more productive.
“Gone are the days when I used to get up at 5am just to get my typing done,” she says. “While the dictation is done, I can go on to focus on other aspects of my role.”
It has been quite a journey for Dina from that first UK hospital job to here, professionally and personally. “I have come a long way,” she says. “I emigrated from South Africa to the UK in 2001. In 2012, I sadly had an acrimonious divorce. I lost my marital home. I was homeless for a period and had to fight to win custody of my children.
“Now I have my own company and work with fantastic surgeons who I absolutely love. There is a great reason to wake up for work in the morning.”
Dina didn’t specifically set out to have a career in healthcare. Born in Madeira, Portugal, she was four years old when her parents took her and her twin brother to Cape Town. Her father built up a fish shop and café business, where Dina served behind the counter from the age of eight.
“I was so tiny, I used to stand on box to see over the counter top,” she says. “I saw the struggles my parents went through so I’ve always had that work ethic. I will always strive to do my best.”
She held a supermarket job during her school years and, after finishing her education, got an administrative job with a local legal firm. When a colleague there was approached about a job as a legal secretary at a hospital in Cape Town, she passed it to Dina. Within three months, Dina was offered a role as a medical PA, managing the gynaecological practice and general surgery.
“That’s where my love for helping people grew,” she says. “I absolutely loved every aspect of that role.”
Arriving in England in 2001, she did Google searches on salaries in the UK health service. She quickly landed a job as a medical secretary for three “fantastic” surgeons at the hospital in Reading where she had her crash-course introduction to DGL.
She recalls chafing against red tape and limited opportunities for innovation in the hospital environment. “I remember one time waiting six weeks for a printer to turn up,” she says. “Without the printer, we couldn’t do our jobs properly, but there was a process to follow.”
After being head-hunted to a new hospital in Reading in 2012, Dina was involved in deciding on the systems to run the consultants’ practice. DGL was the obvious choice. During that time, she met Mark Roberson, assistant sales manager at DGL. “Mark is absolutely phenomenal,” she says. “Nothing is ever a problem; he always goes above and beyond.”
In 2014, she started a new job managing the practice of a consultant based at a hospital in Surrey. A busy role, she is particularly proud that she had zero patient debt on the books in almost seven years.
Like many people, Covid-19 turned her work world on its head. Having been office-based, working for one consultant, working from home was “freedom”, she says. “It made me see what was what. I could do the job from home and start looking for other work – and that’s exactly what I did.”
In 2021, Dina set up how company from a dedicated home office, licensing DGL software and securing Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) certification to handle data in compliance with GDPR rules. Mr James Singleton, a Surrey-based consultant orthopaedic surgeon specialising in knee injuries – and serving British Army officer and surgeon – became her first client.
She credits Mr Singleton and another client, Mr Rajan Uppal, a plastic surgeon who practices out of Harley Street in London and Windsor, for their faith in her and her business. Her clients also include Miss Carol Munyame, a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist, and Dr Udesh Naidoo, a consultant geriatrician.
“They are all very personable characters and absolute professionals,” she says. “Working for them directly, you are their right hand, directly involved in building their business.”
What her clients have in common is a clear patient focus, aligned with an interest in innovation and continuous improvement. The DGL software allows Dina to seamlessly manage their busy calendars and patient interactions, while the consultants also have full transparency over the patient relationship.
“Any consultant that I take on board, I say ‘if you want to come with me, that’s great, but DGL is the software I use and it works’. I love DGL.”
Dina has rebuffed approaches from other practice management software companies that want her to use their products, because they don’t stack up against DGL. “With other platforms, you have to go through so many layers to get what you need – if they even have it. Consultants don’t have time for that,” she says.
Licensing the DGL software has allowed her to become an entrepreneur and continue her lifelong passion for learning and innovation. “My business is very close to my heart because it’s something I have built,” she says. “No two days are the same. I love the variety of my work and helping to solve people’s problems. I speak to patients from all walks of life and I’m humbled by what my role enables me to achieve.”
Away from work, home life is equally busy. Her youngest daughter is a “full-of-beans” teenager. Dina got engaged on Christmas Day, 2023, and has bought a new home with her fiancée, a surgical practitioner. “He gave me the confidence to go out on my own and go forward,” she says. “I have never looked back.”
Baking, running and walking their two year-old Labrador, Monty, gives her an outlet from work and time to regroup, she says. Looking ahead, Dina aims to take on a small number of additional consultants as clients and also has an ambition to handle the accounting for a group of consultants.
She has no doubt DGL will continue to be part of the story, with upcoming innovations in cloud technology and payments software. “DGL is going places,” says Dina. “I really believe in their strategy and their forward-thinking ideas. I have no hesitation recommending them to anybody.”
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