She took to the small screen to outline the latest progress for dentists and their teams in England on issues that have been of great concern since the COVD-19 crisis hit the UK.
She was joined in the webinar by:
- Eric Rooney, Deputy Chief Dental Officer for England
- NHS Director of Primary Care and System Transformation, Matt Neligan
- Sana Movahedi, Regional Associate Postgraduate Dental Dean (Workforce & Dental Foundation)
- Sandra White, National Lead for Dental Public Health at Public Health England
- Linda Dempster, senior infection prevention and control adviser
- Gavin Wilson, Chief Dental Officer Clinical Leadership Fellow Care Quality Commission.
Dr Hurley kicked off the webinar referencing the national COVID-19 challenges we are all facing, adding she was impressed by the clinical leaders and true role models within the profession who are stepping into a range of new roles.
Discussing the ‘unprecedented step of cessation of routine dental care’ she said it had been a difficult three to four weeks, due to the pace of change and new direction.
On the frontline, she said she welcomed dental colleagues and their skills and the transfer of talent that will help healthcare workers in the acute and community healthcare sectors as well as in the urgent dental care hubs that are setting up around the country.
She also criticised those in the profession who ‘hide behind the anonymous webpage and the screen’ and talked about misinformation, misdirection and the ‘malicious use of the internet’ that ‘have not helped patient care’.
Acknowledging that many dental professionals are concerned about the financial aspect of these unprecedented times, Sara handed over to Matt Neligan, Director of Primary Care and System Transformation, who offered an overview of some of the issues, including how UDAs for the 2019/20 and 2020/21 periods will be calculated.
For the 19/20 period, payments will be slipped back a month to February 2020, and for the following year, payments will continue to be made on a monthly basis to the value of one-twelfth of the previous annual payment.
The idea behind this is to ensure practices continue to have cashflow and that dental staff can then be made available to work in wider NHS care.
Sana Movahedi then talked about the framework and guidance regarding volunteering and redeployment and said that 13,000 people from the dental workforce had already shown a willingness to be redeployed, calling it an ‘incredible achievement’ that makes everyone in the dental profession ‘very proud’.
She said that the GDC fully supports the dental team taking on roles outside normal dental practice but that they must ensure they work to the limits of their competency – and added that the framework provides roles that can map to those competencies.
The framework also offers guidance on indemnity, remuneration and contracts whilst recognising the complexity of the dental workforce.
Whilst redeployment will be decided locally, NHS England has provided training modules online and Sana discussed the need for induction, orientation and training for new roles, as well as a need to ensure anyone redeployed would be supported with regards to their wellbeing.
Great opportunity
Gavin Wilson went on to suggest this crisis could be a ‘great opportunity’ for the dental profession to help and care where it is most needed and mentioned suitable tasks and role that all members of the dental team should be able to contribute to, including ‘cannulation, airway management, phlebotomy’ and other roles such as supporting critical ill patients communicating with family (which we are excellent at)
And views it as an opportunity to utilise all members of the dental team.
Sara Hurley also suggested that this could be the dream that special care dentist Mili Doshi has to get Mouth Care Matters into the critical care units – adding: ‘We are putting the ‘mouth back into the COVID-19 challenge here’.
She also acknowledged it was important to retain dental professionals for urgent dental care demands.
On the issue of urgent dental centres, Sara reiterated that no-one should be performing routine care and that, in the first instance, remote consultation is appropriate.
Should a dentist deem a patient’s need to be urgent, they can be brought into a special urgent care centre, where offering advice is the first step. If treatment is needed, it should be non-aerosol-generating and appropriate PPE worn.
In the event that aerosol-generating treatment is needed, there will be designated units set up for that, and as part of the PPE, an FFP3 mask must be worn – but this must be fit tested.
Linda Dempster, Senior Infection Prevention and Control Advisor, stated that the newly available PPE guidance applies across the whole of primary and secondary care.
Eric Rooney, Deputy Chief Dental Officer for England, then explained the urgent dental care approach in some detail, exploring the need for a set of principles that allowed flexibility and for people to work together effectively, as well as how services may be delivered, allowing for a degree of regional variability.
Sandra White, National Lead for Dental Public Health at Public Health England, directed dental professionals to refer to the updated standard operating procedures to help keep both staff and patient safe. They have been revised to reflect the evolution of COVID-19, she said.
Dr Hurley reminded professionals they should operate on evidence, not anecdotes and signed off, saying: ‘Keep safe, keep strong, keep well’.
For those who missed it, you can watch the webinar here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkQk3lw0oJU&feature=youtu.be