Covid-19: Dental Services Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department of Health and Social Care
Lord Fowler
Main Page: Lord Fowler (Crossbench - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Fowler's debates with the Department of Health and Social Care
(3 years, 5 months ago)
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Lord Bethell (Con)
My Lords, I agree with the noble Lord’s analysis, but it is too early to make commitments on funding.
The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)
I make the point that I say at the beginning of every Question Time that two points are the maximum that should be made.
Baroness Thornton (Lab)
In my view, the Government have offered little support to dentist practices: not exempting them from business rates, even though book- makers and vape shops are exempted, and not offering them key worker status, which has caused problems with childcare. Can the Minister commit to early access to Covid-19 vaccines for all high-street dentists who are NHS contractors, rather than employees? Can the Minister give them key worker status?
Lord Bethell (Con)
My Lords, the bottleneck around the training of new dentists, an incredibly important priority for the nation’s teeth, is one that the CDO is extremely concerned about. The question of simulation machines is not one that I was aware of but I will be happy to look into it and reply to the noble Baroness on how we can make progress.
The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)
My Lords, the time allowed for this Question has now elapsed.