Dentists lose confidence in Scottish Government handling of pandemic
Dentists say they have lost confidence in government decisions during the coronavirus pandemic.
The new Scottish Dental Practice Owners’ Group (SDPO), which consists of around 466 practices caring for 3.5 million patients, has raised concerns about oral health as NHS dentists are still forbidden to carry out routine treatments such as fillings, and cannot use compressed air to check for cavities during check-ups.
The strict measures were put in place at the height of the outbreak, with practices closed to patients and emergency treatments only available at Urgent Care Centres.
However, since lockdown easing has begun, private practices who have paid for surgical-grade PPE have been allowed to provide a range of treatments, including the use of aerosol equipment. The Scottish Government has refused to allow NHS surgeries to do the same, with the SDPO blaming the decision on the cost of supplying PPE.
The body has also accused the Scottish Government of ignoring its letters and says that practice owners no longer have “confidence that the established consultation arrangements between the Scottish Government and our existing representative body (Scottish Dental Practice Committee), are fair or effective”. Dr Mohammed Samad, chairman of the SDPO, said: “The SDPC themselves have acknowledged on a number of occasions that they find the Scottish Government unwilling to negotiate, tending to simply dictate their terms. This behaviour by the Scottish Government is long-standing and has led to a gradual degradation and subjugation of both the profession and NHS dental services, over the last decade or more.
“We have no confidence the Scottish Government will engage with the profession to develop a framework for NHS dentistry beyond this pandemic, will deliver reasonable terms for our members and, most importantly, deliver accessible and high quality NHS dental care to the Scottish population.”
The National Clinical Director, Professor Jason Leitch, said: “The Chief Dental Officer has engaged with the Britsh Dental Association, and the representative body, and that’s the right thing for him to do, that’s the representative group for dentists in general and has been for decades.
“The practice owners’ group is new and they have a particular set of challenges that we accept, and the Chief Dental Officer is keen to hear from them and … try and find a way through some of these really challenging issues.”