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Logo MY CLINIC

Lucie Šindelářová: We're going our own way 01.20.2023

An understanding and friendly family doctor who cares for the health of family members over the long term is for many Czechs merely an idealized character in soap operas. But My Clinic, a private clinic in Prague, decided to put this ideal into practice. "From the beginning, our shareholders wanted to build a clinic based on the principle of family doctors. At My Clinic we have a professional, yet personal and human approach and a passion for our work. Our clients appreciate this and new ones often arrive based on a recommendation," says Lucie Šindelářová, the director of My Clinic.

You launched My Clinic during the Covid pandemic. How did this affect your original plans and what was the most difficult part of the launch?

Launching any business during a period of uncertainty, with a number of unpredictable external influences, places completely new obstacles in front of every entrepreneur. It expands the list of risks. In some sectors, on the other hand, it creates completely new opportunities. Our thought process centred, for one, on the fact that Czech society as a whole had begun to think more about its health. In addition, it was obvious that one day the pandemic would have to end. Given the alternatives of either starting activities as planned or to put the project on hold, we made a clear decision to start. There were more pluses. It turned out that clients were more interested in what we were offering, and our doctors' calendars began to fill relatively quickly.

Were your original expectations fulfilled?

Our expectations were fulfilled completely. And I'm saying this fully aware that we're far from the end of our journey. We took on a number of renowned doctors and started working with respected facilities. We pride ourselves in providing our clients comprehensive care. Not only as regards our range of specialities, but also in terms of the complexity of activities. The most demanding ones are outsourced to leading Prague hospitals that we work with. We're the only ones in the Czech Republic to have been accredited by the US Department of State for check-ups for US immigration visas. At the close of the year we moved our client services and administrative offices to newly opened premises in the Telehouse building, so now we're all in one place at our clinic not far from Vítězné náměstí in Dejvice. We can thus react to client requests immediately, and we receive suggestions and recommendations literally first-hand.

How has the clinic changed over the past two years?

The clinic has undergone a significant transformation. Today My Clinic includes 25 medical specializations, has more than 50 specialists, doctors, and therapists, a total of 120 employees. And the clinic is constantly developing and extending the range of services we offer our clients. Our initial cautious expectations have thus been replaced by the excitement of working as a team. But we accept our success and constantly growing number of loyal clients, who also recommend us to others, with humility. There's always room for improvement and we still have a lot of work to do.

In your view, has the experience of the last two years transformed how people approach their health?

People have begun to take a greater interest in and care for their health. After all, it's the most valuable thing we all have. Aside from changes in how physical health is perceived, the pandemic also changed attitudes and how we see ourselves in the area of mental health. Due to the pressure to which we were subjected, many of us realized the importance of internal balance. Isolation from a normal way of life, changes in habits, and long stretches of time spent at home also subjected family relationships to a stress test.

Are people seeking help from mental health specialists more often?

The fact that our psychology and psychiatry outpatient clinics are busy is proof of the general trend of greater need for help in the area of mental care. Both our adult and children's clinic have an excellent team, so we're succeeding in helping our clients and accommodating their current needs.

In a number of areas of specialization, such as ophthalmology, patients have to wait a long time for an appointment, which applies to both public and private facilities. On average, how long do they have to wait for an examination or consultation at your clinic?

When we were still planning our clinic's capacities, we said to ourselves that good availability of all our outpatient facilities would be one of our highest priorities. We're aware that our clients expect us to provide friendly and attentive care, and they deserve the best services. Short waiting times are important to us, but so is the fact that our clients can schedule dates and times that suit them best. Our clients tell us that short waiting times on the order of days are entirely satisfactory for them. That's also why they recommend My Clinic to their friends and acquaintances.

Did you have a problem finding doctors and nurses for all specializations you decided to provide?

It actually wasn't even that hard to put together the My Clinic team. Even though we may not have succeeded in finding the right colleagues right away, we put together an excellent team. Doctors, nurses, and staff providing client care and operational support are applying to work for us. Quite often new employees come to us based on a recommendation, which tells us that our existing employees like working for us. We're trying to make sure the work makes sense. Happiness and satisfaction are priceless, and cannot be replaced by anything else. I believe that we have a professional yet personal and human approach and a passion for our work. And I appreciate that very much.

Today you offer the services of 25 specializations. Will this number increase?

We are, for example, getting ready to work with a leading dental facility. We're not considering our own premises in this field, so a close partnership with specialists seems to us to be the optimum solution for adding a specialization that has been missing up to now. But for now, it would be premature to reveal how and with whom we're planning to work.

So far, you've been operating as an outpatient facility. Are you planning to also provide inpatient care?

We're planning to open a so-called one-day surgical service. One-day inpatient care was part of our vision from the start. As I've already mentioned, we want to not only broaden our range of services, but also make them more comprehensive. Our ambition isn't to compete with large hospitals. But everything we're able to take care of, we want to do at our clinic. Our doctors have vast amounts of experience. With the right facilities, they'll be capable of providing all top-notch care in one place, which I think is something mainly our clients will appreciate. At My Clinic, doctors of many specializations form a single team. We're building a concept of a family clinic based on close interdisciplinary cooperation and perfect knowledge of the client. That's something we take pride in and is our mission.

Recently telemedicine has garnered a lot of attention. How do you provide remote care at My Clinic?

Phone consultations are a routine thing at My Clinic. When I look at the statistics, I see that doctors and clients interact a lot more over the phone than in person. But for this you need good knowledge of the health and specific needs of each client. Our doors are always open to our clients. If they have a need to meet with our doctors in person, we respect that. In terms of knowledge of our clients, I think that thanks to a stable team of knowledgeable specialists we're at the very top.

Do you also focus on preventive programmes, so that your clients can effectively prevent potential health problems?

Prevention is one of our key values. We're capable of customizing our specially-developed preventive programmes based on our clients' health, age, or individual needs. From the beginning, our shareholders wanted to build a clinic based on the principle of family doctors. I think that we can become a respected, full-scale diagnostic and treatment centre only if we focus precisely on prevention, determining the root cause of illness, and its targeted, careful treatment.

Prior to participating in the birth of My Clinic, you also worked at IKEM. What enticed you to move to private health care?

The ability to go your own way. To build a unique clinic where good medicine is performed, built on the principle of family doctors. One where doctors know their clients and their health problems and deal with their overall condition. When they're not only specialists focused on their field, but also sees the big picture. When they have the ability to work with other experts and thanks to top-notch facilities and equipment, they can work together on providing the best care under one roof.

What experience from your previous positions can you now put to good use in managing the clinic?

I studied andragogy, psychology, and sociology. For twenty years I've been working in the area of human resources management and development, consulting, and management. For three years I headed the entire HR department at IKEM. As I've already emphasized many times, people are our strength. I think that's where I can contribute the most. But it would be presumptuous to take credit for everything. We wouldn't have been able to create a good team without the enthusiasm and collegiality of all 120 of our employees. Initiative grows from the bottom up. The role of management is to support it, create appropriate conditions, and provide inspiration for the best performance.

In your view, what's most lacking in the Czech health care system and how can private clinics like yours change things?

Our solidary state health care model is structured very well. As opposed to a number of developed countries to the west of us, our health care system features, for example, unusually good availability from both a temporal and territorial perspective, something we've gotten used to considering a certain matter-of-fact standard. The Czech Republic also has truly cutting-edge medicine, taking place not only at university hospitals and specialized facilities, which from an objective perspective stands up well to the most demanding international comparisons. Private clinics can above all be a great source of inspiration for the Czech health care system in the area of how they treat their patients. We strive to ensure that our clients feel good in all respects, that they experience a feeling of friendly care and attention. So that they always know that someone is listening to them and sees their problems in a broader context that includes awareness of their family and life situation. So that they definitely never get the feeling that the doctor is a bit bothered by them or doesn't feel the need to explain anything in greater detail.

Lucie Šindelářová

She studied andragogy, psychology, and sociology. She's been working in the area of human resources development and management, consulting, and management. Her professional experience is primarily with companies in the area of health care and the pharmaceutical industry; for example, for several years she was head of the HR department at IKEM. She participated in the creation of My Clinic and from the start her main priority has been to create, develop, and motivate the best team of professionals with enthusiasm for a unique project. She has focused on the area of HR throughout her entire career, and her extensive experience includes a position with the Deloitte consulting company as the manager for the Central and Eastern Europe region. For a number of years, she has also been working as an independent consultant.

Author: Jiří Studený for the magazine Premium Estate