North Wales MS Mark Isherwood has highlighted concerns that the livelihoods of thousands of dental surgeons will be destroyed unless the Welsh Government follows England’s lead and allows for the reopening of dental practices soon.
Dental practices in England have been told that they can re-open from next Monday (June 8), if they put appropriate safety measures in place.
Speaking in yesterday’s virtual Plenary meeting of the Welsh Parliament, Mr Isherwood said dental surgeons in Wales are concerned that no provision has yet been made for them to re-open.
Questioning the Health Minister, he said:
“In England, Dental Practices are allowed to re-open from June 8th provided strict criteria have been met before Aerosol Generating Procedures can be performed.
“In Wales, no provision has been made for Dental Practices to be allowed to do this. How therefore do you respond to the North Wales Dental Surgeons who tell me that unless you change tack, dental services and the livelihoods of thousands of hard working, committed professionals in Wales will be destroyed?”
In his response, the Minister stated:
“I would not want to try to place the opportunity to make money ahead of seeing a range of our dental professionals losing their lives if we're taking a cavalier approach. That's why the professional advice of the Chief Dental Officer is so important. As I said earlier, we'll continue to be guided by the evidence, and I will be making public her letter and her advice to dentists across Wales.”
Mr. Isherwood added: “This response was insulting and, frankly, disgraceful. Dental Surgeons in North Wales have told me that ‘most European countries, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and now England, Ireland and Scotland have commenced planning for reopening of Dental Practices with no restrictions to the treatment provided, conditional upon strict new protocols, procedures, working patterns, risk assessments of patients staff and premises, and some additional equipping of premises. All Dental Practices in the UK are expert in cross infection control and do not pass their rigorous inspections if not. The coronavirus definitely presents new challenges, but with our existing cross infection control measures, plus the new measures being implemented, there is no reason why Welsh Dental Practices should not be reopening as soon as they are fully prepared and be allowed to fully care for patients’.”
