Poor PPE might force surgeries to go private

5,857 infected with killer disease as death toll stalls again

HUNDREDS of thousands of patients will lose access to dental care if better PPE is not provided by the NHS, a dentist has said.

Routine treatment resumed yesterday with limited numbers of appointments to allow for regular cleaning of surgeries.

Urgent care centres remain open until the end of August.

Alan Clarke, from Belfast, has worked in the health service for the past eight years.

He said: “We are really concerned in our practice for our patients and for the patients of the wider community of Northern Ireland.

“If sustainable options of PPE are not made available, we will find that many dental practices will be forced to privatise simply to cover costs, not to turn a profit, or they will go bankrupt.

“This is a serious situation. We are gravely concerned that hundreds of thousands of patients in Northern Ireland will lose access to dental care which they have been afforded for generations.”

Surgeries were shuttered in March to inhibit the spread of coronavirus.

Dentists have urged the Department of Health to cover the cost of purchasing a higher level of PPE.

They believe it is needed during aerosol-generating procedures such as fillings.

Mr Clarke said dentists were facing a crisis, adding: “Many people who receive oral cancer screening, who see many of their own health needs already ignored due to the pandemic, will find that in many months other needs will not be met.

“We will have children suffering pain, many patients who would have been seen will simply not be able to access the treatment. Unfortunately, it will be those from the lower socioeconomic backgrounds who will be hit hardest and hit first.”

On Friday, the Health and Social Care Board launched a scheme to provide funding to general dental practices for mask fit testing.

The Health Department said: “This should help alleviate a key constraint for practices in their efforts to provide AGPS.”

It urged patients to contact their own dentist in the first instance for any dental problem and said they could offer appointments or refer for urgent dental care.

Meanwhile, libraries were also able to open their doors yesterday with Belfast Central Library welcoming back members of the public.

BELFAST YESTERDAY

NEW NORMAL Irvine Dental Care in Belfast NO Covid-19 deaths were recorded by the Department of Health in Northern Ireland yesterday. The tally, mostly comprising hospital deaths, remained at 556. Between Friday and Monday another 23 people tested positive for READ ALL ABOUT IT Belfast Central Library the coronavirus. Over the past seven days a further 71 positive results were recorded, bringing the overall total for infections to 5,857. Northern Ireland’s TREATMENT Alan Clarke & Lynsey Galaway yesterday PRECAUTION Libraries NI chief Jim O’hagan Covid-19 figures from Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency last Friday showed a significant drop from the previous week. The Nisra data covering the week of July 3 to July 10 recorded the total number of deaths linked to coronavirus across the country as 844. Department of Health figures are based on patients having previously tested positive for the virus, whereas the Nisra figures are based on the information entered on death certificates.