COVID-19: Latest Updates for dentistry, October 2020
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- Published: Thursday, 22 October 2020 07:57
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The BDA has updated the profession on developments in the past week. These include: Free PPE for NHS providers, Addressing concerns over practice waiting rooms, The impact of the pandemic on stress and burnout. Specifically for Wales, they have advised on Clarity on treatment in local lockdown areas and New travel restrictions will not impact dentistry.
Free PPE for NHS providers
PPE is available to NHS providers and orderable every seven days via the PPE portal. To calculate the portal’s order limit, practices need to calculate their number of units of dental activity (UDAs) plus number of units of orthodontic activity (UOAs), if any, multiplied by 1.5 per practice per year.
The Department of Health has said: “The PPE Portal can be used by all adult social care residential care homes, domiciliary care providers, children’s social care settings, GPs, community pharmacies, dentists and optometrists in England. The PPE Portal is intended to meet all COVID-19 needs supplied for free to these NHS contractors, supplementing the PPE supply for business as usual needs that these settings should continue accessing via their normal supply routes.
“The PPE Portal product range has been expanded and now includes aprons, gloves, type IIR masks, hand hygiene and visors. Additional items, such as respirator masks and gowns will also be made available to eligible service providers via the PPE Portal by October. Weekly order limits are based on provider size, and these will be increased to higher levels using modelled demand of COVID-19 PPE needs.”
COVID restrictions: concerns over practice waiting rooms
There has been concern raised regarding people from different households meeting in dentists’ waiting rooms which conflicts with the latest COVID restrictions announced earlier in the week. The BDA can confirm that while the new guidance does restrict gathering indoors of two or more people, it also states that there are exceptions which include gatherings that are "reasonably necessary" such as for "work purposes".
Stress and burnout: The impact of the pandemic
BDA Research Analyst Victoria Collin recently looked at the long-term psychological impacts of the pandemic on healthcare workers and has urged us all to prepare for long-lasting consequences of the outbreak.
“Significant levels of burnout (emotional exhaustion) and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder were found two-three years after the SARS outbreak in 2003… healthcare workers often adopt a mentality of ‘getting on with the job,’ which may help to minimise psychological stress. It is only after the immediate threat has dissipated that the effects will manifest.”
Wales: Clarity on treatment in local lockdown areas
The Welsh CDO has made clear to the BDA in recent correspondence that GDS dental practices should continue to treat patients with dental needs in high risk areas, as long as they don’t exhibit any signs of COVID infection and are not self-isolating due to track and trace. The rationale is that infection risks will be mitigated fully by the current SOP.
If, however, patients are showing COVID-19 symptoms, have a positive test result or are self-isolating due to track and trace - and they need urgent dental care - then they should be referred to the UDCs as before. If the patient’s dental needs are not urgent, then they should be triaged until such time that any risk of passing on the infection has diminished, and they can then be treated in the surgery.
Wales: New travel restrictions will not impact dentistry
People from parts of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland that have high rates of coronavirus will be banned from travelling to Wales from Friday 16 October. Wales’ First Minister Mark Drakeford said the move was needed "to prevent the spread of infection within Wales" and elsewhere in the UK.
However, this will not affect dentists and dental patients who cross the English-Welsh border for work or to access dental care. You should reassure staff and patients that this counts as essential travel and is therefore unaffected.
To keep up to date with developments from the BDA, dentists should visit their Coronavirus update page[i], which is available to all whether or not they are members and is continuously revised.
[i] https://bda.org/advice/Coronavirus/Pages/latest-updates.aspx
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