Friday 6 November 2020
20:10
Video round-up
Revised standard operating procedures across the UK, a new national lockdown and an election... Lots of questions have been coming in so here's my latest video to share recent news and developments in dentistry across the UK.
I hope you find it useful.
Useful links
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Download our toolkits: Our revised toolkits for England, Scotland, Wales are designed to support you and your teams in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Advice for patients: Find our messaging for patients to help them understand the situation for our profession.
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Assets for our members: Text for your website, posters for your windows and images to share on social. Download our communication assets to help your patients during this time.
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BDA Board elections 2020: Find out more about the candidates. Ballots close on 26 November.
15:00
England: Watch yesterday's webinar with CDO Sara Hurley
Sara Hurley, CDO for England held a webinar yesterday (5 November) on how infection prevention control and the new fallow time requirements are due to work in dental settings. She was joined by representatives from Public Health England and deputy chief dental officers Eric Rooney and Jason Wong.
Catch up with the webinar now via Microsoft Teams.
14:50
Patient communications and COVID-19
As we enter the second national lockdown, patients understandably have questions about dental practices being open.
We’ve updated our
advice for patients page to help them understand the situation for our profession.
Members can download some communication assets to help your patients during this time:
Please feel free to direct your patients to:
bda.org/patients
11:16
Using the NHS COVID-19 Test and Trace App
Dentists continue to have questions around how to use the NHS COVID-19 Test and Trace App while at work. The guidance advises that you:
- Download the NHS COVID-19 app to help the fight against coronavirus
- Use the
pause contact-tracing function on the app when you are in dental surgeries (as you are working in highly specialised environment, trained in infection prevention and control processes, and wearing medical grade PPE as required)
- You can still use some of the app’s functionality while the app contact-tracing feature is paused, if you wish.
Further questions on how healthcare workers can use the NHS COVID-19 app are answered on the
NHS Test and Trace website. Please distribute the full guidance to your staff.
11:05
Raise awareness during Mouth Cancer Action Month
We are encouraging dentists and teams to support the
Oral Health Foundation’s Mouth Cancer Action campaign during November, by raising awareness of oral cancers with your patients.
New cases of mouth cancer have risen to
a record high of 8,722, which is an increase of 58% compared to ten years ago.
Early detection is the key to improved survival rates for those contracting oral cancers, and we are concerned that mouth cancer referrals have fallen since the beginning of lockdown. We have called on NHS England to share data on referrals for 2020, so we can see the true scale of the problem.
We are also concerned that school closure during the lockdown period have had an impact on the delivery of the HPV vaccination, which can protect against oral cancers. This is the first year the gender-neutral HPV vaccination programme is to include boys, something we lobbied for, and won, in 2018. NHS England have assured us that this programme is still a priority and at least one dose of the vaccine will be offered to all who are eligible.
We continue to campaign to raise awareness of oral cancers and the HPV vaccination and over the course of the next month we will have more content and information to offer you.
In the meantime, we encourage you to:
- Use our
free oral cancer toolkit, developed in partnership with Cancer Research UK, to help identify and refer cases (includes 3 hours of verifiable CPD)
- Support the
Oral Health Foundation’s campaign during November, use their resources and help raise awareness via social media
- Sign up for our
online oral cancer seminar - improving prospects for oral cancer patients (free for BDA members, one-hour verifiable CPD).
10:55
Dentists back Rashford school meals plan
We have joined up with leading food charities and education unions to call on Education Secretary Gavin Williamson to
guarantee children in the UK will have access to decent food over Christmas.
The coalition has urged Williamson to “commit to funding benefits-related free school meals during the Christmas holiday period and through to Easter 2021, including children from households with no recourse to public funds”.
Since the onset of the pandemic, we have warned that already unacceptable oral health inequalities will likely deepen as a result of lack of access to nutritious meals, the suspension of public health programmes and on running access challenges.
We have long advocated wide-ranging reform to improve the UK’s food environment, including expansion of the sugar levy and mandatory targets for sugar reduction.
As our Chair, Eddie Crouch has said: “Lack of access to healthy food has a devastating impact on the general and oral health of our children. Dentists believe in prevention. COVID is set to send levels of health inequality through the roof, and this government has a responsibility to set out a coherent response.”
10:30
Scotland: CDO answers queries on BBC Radio Scotland
The Chief Dental Officer, Tom Ferris was on BBC Scotland “Mornings with Kaye Adams” on Wednesday to answer queries about the remobilisation of NHS dentistry this week.
Listen here from 1 hour 8 minutes
Thursday 5 November 2020
15:28
Sign up to our up-coming webinars
Our popular series of COVID-19 webinars continues, with
Communicating in a brave new world tonight as well as up-coming webinars on a variety of subjects. Don't miss out, register your place today:
13:45
Furlough scheme extended until March 2021
The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has today confirmed that the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, also known as the Furlough scheme, will remain open until the end of March 2021.
The scheme had been due to end on 31 October but has been extended to cover the new four-week lockdown in England. Under the extended scheme employees will continue to receive 80% of their current salary for hours not worked, up to a maximum of £2,500. Flexible furloughing will continue to be allowed, in addition to full-time furloughing.
12:50
Members: Our updated COVID-19 toolkits are ready for download
We have updated our toolkits for
England
,
Wales
and
Scotland
to include the latest guidance from the recently revised standard operating procedures. Our toolkits are designed to support you and your teams practise as safely and efficiently as possible in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The toolkits have proven incredibly popular among members and have already been downloaded nearly 40,000 times.
The latest versions address your queries on:
- Aerosol generating procedures
- Fallow time
- Air changes
- Risk assessment for pregnant staff
- As well as advice on job retention and the workers support schemes.
Visit our
Returning to Work webpage to find all three toolkits plus further advice on practice management and risk assessment.
12:25
Wales: New framework for dental care pathways in development
A new
framework for dental care pathways in Wales is currently being developed.
Paul Brocklehurst, the Deputy CDO for Wales, is leading the work which has been informed by the contract reform project, and also the pandemic recovery measures, and includes pathways for input from both the NHS Community and General Dental Services.
The framework will inform how the different patient journeys will be mapped, followed, and measured. We are working closely with dental branch on this development and anticipate more detail from the CDO for Wales, Dr Colette Bridgman, at the Welsh Council on 13 November.
We will provide members with more information following that discussion.
11:10
Vote now in the BDA board elections
Six seats on the BDA’s board are now up for election. You can find the
full list of candidates on our elections page.
This year, 14 candidates are standing for the four regional seats, and 34 candidates for the two UK-wide seats available.
Ballot papers are being delivered to all full members and will be sent to the address at which you receive your BDJ. If you have not received a ballot form by 12 November and are eligible to vote, please email
elections@bda.org to request a replacement form.
Ballots close at 12 noon on 26 November, so please ensure you return your vote via post in good time.
08:45
England: Second national lockdown comes into force today
The national lockdown in England, announced by the Prime Minister on Saturday, will commence today. We want to reassure members that earlier this week the Chief Dental Officer for England, Sara Hurley, confirmed that dental practices should remain open to treat patients during the period of tightened COVID-19 restrictions.
The current
standard operating procedure and the recently updated national infection prevention control
dental appendix will continue to apply.
Furthermore, Sara Hurley has also received confirmation from the Department of Health and Social Care the dental workforce actively engaged in supporting the NHS and maintaining dental care provision are essential workers. This means dentists and their teams in England can receive prioritised COVID testing.
Wednesday 4 November 2020
11:25
England: Dental practices to stay open
As confirmed by Chief Dental Officer for England, Sara Hurley on Monday, dental practices should remain open to treat patients, during the period of tightened COVID-19 restrictions that start from midnight tonight.
The current
standard operating procedure and the recently updated national infection prevention control
dental appendix will continue to apply, after the new restrictions are introduced from tomorrow.
09:25
England: Dentists and their teams are essential workers
The Chief Dental Officer England, Sara Hurley, has received confirmation from the Department of Health and Social Care the dental workforce actively engaged in supporting the NHS and maintaining dental care provision are included within the definition of essential worker. This means dentists and their teams in England can receive prioritised COVID testing, a confirmation that we have been calling for.
09:15
Scotland: Updated COVID FAQs from the PSD
The Practitioner Services Division in Scotland have
updated their Covid FAQs to reflect the Phase 4 remobilisation of NHS dentistry.
New information includes:
- How the top up payment calculation will be made to practitioners (section one)
- Closing open courses of treatment (section two)
- The reinstatement of the three month rule (section two)
- Further amendments can be found under Sections: three and five.
Tuesday 3 November 2020
14:28
Scotland: Seeking clarity on the future of the PDS, HDS and academic dentistry
We have written to the Minister for Public Health, Sport and Wellbeing to request
details of the Scottish Government’s medium and long-term plans for the Public Dental Service (PDS) and Hospital Dental Service (HDS), and for academic dentistry.
During the pandemic, the focus on dentistry has been on ensuring the sustainability of the General Dental Service. However, one consequence of lockdown, including the continued operation of the Urgent Dental Care Centres, is that the PDS colleagues have been unable to see their usual patients which has caused a significant backlog of unmet care. These patients include some of the most vulnerable groups in society. The HDS is slowly getting back to providing its usual service but at greatly reduced capacity.
We are concerned that the PDS and HDS, along with academic dentistry, have been largely overlooked by the Scottish Government in recent months.
14:10
Scotland: Managing patients’ expectations following remobilisation of NHS dentistry
We have warned that the reintroduction of the full range of NHS treatments this week
will not signal a return to routine care for patients.
Data from a recent BDA survey show 84% of practices expressed dissatisfaction with the Scottish Government’s record on managing patient expectations. While we welcome the Government’s planned communications to patients, clear and consistent messages from the Government and all NHS Boards are needed to manage patient expectations about what treatment they can reasonably expect.
The pandemic has caused a huge backlog in unmet treatment, and priority will continue to be given to urgent cases and those in greatest need.
13:35
Blog: How a ventilation upgrade saved my practice
Since the outbreak of the pandemic, dentists have been concerned about ventilation in practices and the transmission of COVID-19.
Following last week's revised guidance on fallow times and AGPs, a practice owner in Yorkshire tells us how he upgraded the ventilation in his practice and the impact that it has had on their capacity.
"Installation work began three weeks after we were allowed to return to face-to-face care in June… Our fallow time is now down to 20 minutes and we are seeing four times as many patients than we were after lockdown. The recommendations from the recent SDCEP report, published in September, followed by the new standard operating procedures this week reassure us that this was the right approach to take."
Read Cliff Palmer's blog:
How a ventilation upgrade saved my practice.
Monday 2 November 2020
15:00
England: Dental practices to stay open
Chief Dental Officer for England, Sara Hurley, has today confirmed that dental practices should remain open to treat patients, during the up-coming period of tightened COVID-19 restrictions.
The current
standard operating procedure and the recently updated national infection prevention control
dental appendix will continue to apply, after the new restrictions are introduced on 5 November.
12:25
England: Revised SOPs see changes to masks and fallow time
NHS England has issued
revised Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for dentistry during the COVID-19 pandemic. These new SOPs follow on from the recent rapid review into COVID-19 and aerosol-generating procedures, and
incorporate the recently published COVID-19: infection prevention and control dental appendix.
Regarding fallow time and Aerosol Generating Procedures (AGPs), the revised SOPs say that where a surgery's ventilation system can achieve 6 to 9 Air Changes/Hour (ACH), a baseline post AGP downtime of 20 minutes is recommended. Where there are 10 or more ACH, a baseline post AGP downtime of 15 minutes is recommended.
The SOPs also confirm that FFP3 masks are recommended for AGP procedures. However, the Office of the CDO has also indicated that where there are existing stocks of FFP2 masks, it is understood that it may be necessary for practices to continue to use these until staff are successfully fit tested and supplied with the appropriate FFP3 mask.
Practices/providers are advised to have a plan in place to demonstrate to the CQC the steps they are taking to complete the transition to FFP3 masks for AGPs in a timely and safe manner. We understand that FFP3 masks are to be made available via the NHS portal.
12:20
Scotland: Revised operational guidance issued
Revised Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) have been published for dentists in Scotland. These follow SDCEP's recent rapid review of AGPs and publication of the 4-nation dental Infection Prevention and Control Guidance.
Dentists can offer a full range of NHS treatments from 1 November, although it will not be business as usual. Complex issues such as physical distancing, fallow time and the use of enhanced PPE will limit the volume of care that may be provided. The revised guidance includes updated fallow times following AGPs depending on ventilation and other factors.
While the guidance is not prescriptive, dentists will be expected to apply it to their individual settings and adapt it to allow for minor local variations.
12:07
NHS COVID-19 app to send more alerts
Changes have recently been made to the NHS COVID-19 app to ensure that more self-isolation alerts are sent out. The level of risk required to trigger a self-isolation alert has been lowered, to deal with the prevalence of COVID-19 in the community.
It’s therefore essential that dentists and dental teams in England and Wales ensure they have contact tracing paused on the app, while at work and in appropriate PPE. We recommend you speak to your staff about this. It should help avoid false positives and the confusion that this may cause.
Notifications from the app to self-isolate are not legally binding, but we would like to remind dentists and their teams that notifications from contact tracers are. Not complying with an instruction to self-isolate from a member of Test & Trace, may see you facing a fine of £1,000.
If you are contacted by Test & Trace to say that you had close contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19, you should tell them if you were wearing PPE at the time of that close contact. However, if they maintain their position that you still need to self-isolate, you must do so.
11:25
England: Download our updated toolkit
An updated edition of our toolkit for providing care in the context of COVID-19 is now available for members. This version includes the latest guidance from the revised Standard Operating Procedure for England, published earlier this week. It is designed to support you and your team to practise as safely and efficiently as possible.
This latest version for England now includes guidance on:
- Isolating (p9)
- Risk assessment for pregnancy (p10)
- NHS Test and Trace (p10)
- Fallow time (p30)
- Mitigation and air changes (p31)
As well as updates on the following areas:
- Pregnancy (p10, 19)
- Job retention and support schemes (p17)
- Workers support scheme (p20)
- Changes to associate contracts (p23)
- Training (p25)
- AGPs (p47)
Download the toolkit for England
Our updated toolkits for Wales and Scotland will be available for download soon.
11:10
Furlough scheme extension announced
It was announced this weekend that the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, also known as the Furlough scheme,
will remain open until December. Under the scheme employees will continue to receive 80% of their current salary for hours not worked, up to a maximum of £2,500. Flexible furloughing will continue to be allowed, in addition to full-time furloughing.
We understand that under the extended scheme, the cost for employers of retaining workers will be reduced compared to the current scheme, which ends today. Further details, including how to claim this extended support through an updated claims service, are expected shortly. The Job Support Scheme, which was scheduled to come in on Sunday 1st November, has been postponed until the furlough scheme ends.
