BDA calls for decontamination review timetable to be set
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- Published: Saturday, 17 December 2011 20:01
- Written by News Editor
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The British Dental Association (BDA) has written to Department of Health to press for the announcement of a timetable for the review of HTM 01-05 promised by the Chief Dental Officer in 2009. The BDA’s call coincides with the publication of new research on time-dependent recontamination rates of sterilised dental instruments in the 22 October issue of the British Dental Journal. |
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The CDO’s letters in 2009 saw the Department pledge that a review would begin within two years, a deadline that will be reached in December. Despite this promise, details of the review have not yet been set out. As well as a commitment to a date to begin the review, the BDA is also seeking details of how it will be conducted and assurances that the BDA will be fully involved in the process.
The research published in BDJ further undermines the requirements set out in HTM 01-05 and follows advice published last year by the Scottish Health Technologies Group which stated that there was insufficient evidence from research to support the wrapping of dental instruments after sterilisation and prior to use.
Dr Susie Sanderson, Chair of the BDA’s Executive Board, said:“The evidence base for aspects of the Department’s decontamination guidance has been contentious ever since its publication. The Department chose to offer reassurance about some of the concerns raised with a promise to review what it had imposed. It must now deliver on that promise, taking full account of emerging evidence and, where necessary, admitting shortcomings in the document and acting to resolve them.”
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