Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department is providing to dental nurses who are redeployed to hospital wards during the covid-19 outbreak.
NHS England has issued updated guidance on 20 April covering the redeployment of the dental workforce to support the delivery of the National Health Service delivery plan during COVID-19. The guidance can be found at the following link:
The guidance sets out that for dental nurses possible redeployment could include decontamination measures, administrative jobs, talking to relatives, helping with feeding, moving patients, donning personal protective equipment, bedside support, equipment preparation, acting as ‘runner’ between teams, turning and washing patients and providing bedside comfort.
The guidance also makes clear that redeployment should be aligned closely with current competencies and where training is needed that is provided.