Source · Select Committees · Health and Social Care Committee
Recommendation 8
8
Paragraph: 67
We further conclude that the delivery of dental services in England has been significantly hindered...
Conclusion
We further conclude that the delivery of dental services in England has been significantly hindered by the pandemic. This has been largely due to the need to protect both patients and staff from COVID-19 which has, in turn, presented financial challenges to both NHS and private dental practices. We welcome NHSE/ I’s continued efforts to support the restoration of dentistry services in England.
Paragraph Reference:
67
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
The backlog in dental appointments is a function of the precautions needed to avoid infection through COVID-19. DHSC acknowledges the impact that the coronavirus pandemic has had on the provision of NHS dentistry across the country and is working with the profession to increase the level of service as fast as possible, acknowledging the ongoing social distancing and infection prevention and control requirements. Guidance has now been published by Public Health England that updates infection prevention control procedures. This includes reduced time to rest a room between patients. Whilst this should allow dentists to see a greater number of patients, dentists will still be seeing significantly fewer patients per day than pre COVID-19. The Department is in the early stages of exploring how dentistry may be able to use Point of Care testing to increase patient throughput in future, however this is heavily dependent on a number of factors, such as the availability of testing technologies and a full assessment of the impact on risk for patients and staff.