COVID-19: Update: Practices start to re-open, BDA sends warning to Matt Hancock

COVID-19: Update: Practices start to re-open, BDA sends warning to Matt Hancock

Dental practices have started to re-open, although the BDA has warned that only just over a third will be ready to start from Day 1. Chair, Mick Armstrong said: I think we are all still recovering from the bombshell that was delivered to dentists on the 28 May via the BBC news ticker: that dentists could re-open their practices and return to work from Monday 8 June. This was nothing short of ‘disrespectful to the profession’.

As dentists start re-opening across England, the BDA has issued an open letter to Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock this morning, calling for urgent support to keep the service afloat and avert a likely collapse in patient access. They have demanded urgent action from across government to integrate the dentistry into official PPE supply chains, to provide clarity on key worker status, which has seen dentists unable to access childcare, and to provide much needed financial support.  

BDA Chair, Mick Armstrong has said: "The Health Secretary must now take responsibility to avert the existential crisis facing a service struggling with sky-high costs and radically reduced patient numbers… Without action from this Government access problems – on an unprecedented scale - are going to be visited on millions of patients, in every part in England."

Mick has also published a blog[i] on the BDA website telling members ‘5 things you need to know.” He says that on managing patient expectations there is ‘a mountain to climb.’ He also reports on shrinking stocks of PPE and rising costs and ongoing financial support which will be needed. He continues that weathering ‘this emotional rollercoaster’, support for dentists’ wellbeing will be needed.

To keep up to date with developments from the BDA, dentists should visit their Coronavirus update page[ii], which is available to all whether or not they are members and is continuously revised.

[i] https://bda.org/news-centre/blog/5-things-you-need-to-know-about-dentists-reopening-from-8-june

[ii] https://bda.org/advice/Coronavirus/Pages/latest-updates.aspx

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