Dental Services: Coronavirus
(asked on 1st July 2020) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that dental practices are able to re-open for routine appointments as covid-19 lockdown restrictions are eased.
Dental practices have been able to open for face to face National Health Service care, including routine care, from 8 June. Decisions on when to reopen for private care are a matter for the practice concerned. The guidance from NHS England and NHS Improvement to NHS contract holders was clear that the pace of the restart should be only as fast as possible compatible with maximizing safety for patients and dental staff.
A copy of the letter that was published can be found at the following link:
There are also currently over 600 urgent dental centres which remain open across England to ensure patients can continue to have access to urgent treatment while practices gradually restart a full range of care. No treatment is prohibited. From 8 June dentists have been free to restart the full range of dentistry as far as they believe they can safely deliver this following Public Health England guidance on infection protection control procedures and appropriate levels of personal protective equipment.