BDA: Failure to extend flu jabs scheme risks deepening crisis on access
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- Published: Wednesday, 23 September 2020 10:03
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All NHS frontline workers have been urged “to take up the offer of free vaccination against flu as soon as possible; and to remind your patients to get their vaccine”. They have been told to: “all do our bit and take this important step to protect our patients, those we care for and ourselves this winter.” However the term ‘NHS frontline workers’ apparently does not include dentists and their teams.
The BDA reports “NHS dentists in England this week received a letter strongly encouraging "all NHS frontline workers" to participate in the free flu vaccine scheme. However the letter is not relevant to dentists in England as the government does not recognise them as key workers and therefore excludes them from the scheme.”
Branding the policy ’absurd’, Chair of the BDA’s General Dental Practice Committee Dave Cottam said: "Officials need to apply their own logic to dentists and their staff. Continued failure to treat us as key workers hits our teams, and millions desperate to access our services. Dentists are NHS frontline workers. Devolved governments have recognised this. The risks remain the same, regardless of your postcode."
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