7th June 2021 GG&C LDC Update

06 June 2021

Free NHS Dentistry; PPE increase and extension; Conference Webinar; LFDT Reporting

  1. MINISTERS AND MANIFESTO PLEDGES
    • Nicola Sturgeon pledged, going into the Scottish Parliamentary election, that ‘‘… over the course of the next parliament, if the SNP is re-elected, [they] will abolish all NHS dentistry charges.’
    • The SNP have said the additional costs, estimated to be around £75 million per year, would be absorbed into the budget in a phased manner over the coming parliament in a similar way to how free prescription charges were also implemented.
    • The First Minister has since announced that the first phase would be to remove charges for ‘care-leavers’ and ‘young adults’ and this should be achieved within the first 100 days.
      • Care-leavers are those individuals who have historically experienced a period of time ‘under care’ for example, fostering and adoption.
      • Young adults are those between the ages of 18 and 26.
    • No consultation was had with the profession about removing patient charges prior to this.
    • The new Minister for Public Health, Women’s Health, and Sport (with responsibility for dentistry) is Maree Todd.
  2. EXTENSION AND INCREASE TO PPE PROVISION
    • Practice generic mailboxes on Friday should have received communication from Lee Savarrio, Chief of Dentistry, announcing that:
      1. Free of charge PPE to Primary Care contractors will continue until the end of this financial year (end of March 2022).
      2. National Procurement will also increase the availablity of free PPE available to the Boards by 50% from the start of July through PECOS. This will enable Boards to target increases in practice allocation where required.
    • PECOS deadlines will be noon on the first Friday of the month until we are informed otherwise.
    • Allocation limits are detailed at practice level via the generic email address.
    • If you miss deadlines you will not be able to take advantage of the free NHS PPE allocations until the following month.
    • Gowns are now available on PECOS, with consideration being given to moving all enhanced PPE and LDFT to PECOS in the near future.
  3. CONFERENCE OF SCOTTISH LDCs
    • The Conference of Scottish LDCs recently hosted a webinar webinar titled ‘Scottish Dentistry: Where Next?‘
    • Questions were put to Tom Ferris and David Notman from the CDO’s office, as well as Alan Whittet and Lorraine Bagen from Practitioner Services Division.
    • You can re-watch the webinar on the CSLDC website. Important topics in the Q&A can be found at:
      • 0hr27 – Ventilation and Fallow Time (and potential funding)
      • 0hr35 – Free NHS Dentistry
      • 1hr23 – Activity Measurement
      • 1hr34 – Associate Recruitment, Maternity, Locums
      • 1hr42 – New model of care
      • 1hr47 – VT
  4. LFD  TESTING
    • A second batch of Lateral Flow Device Testing kits should have arrived at practices in the last 2 weeks. This is a further 3 month supply.
    • Going forwards, there is likely to be an ordering system in place (probably via PECOS).
    • It is essential that all team members continue to upload all negative results to the portal
      • This will provide evidence of the real transmission rates in practices (or lack thereof).
      • If some participants are only reporting positive results, then this will artificially increase the ‘positivity rate’ – i.e. it can look like 1 in 100 tests are positive rather than what could really be 1 in 10,000.
      • Accurate data will help make the case for less inhibitive infection control measures and a speedier resumption of routine services.
  5. NATIONAL INFECTION CONTROL GUIDANCE UPDATE