Senior peer Lord Rogan has called on the UK Government to ensure that Northern Ireland dentists are supplied with sufficient quantities of personal protective equipment (PPE) in advance of local practices being given the go-ahead to open.
Yesterday the UK Government announced that dentists in England will be allowed to accept patients for regular appointments from Monday 8 June.
This has prompted some English dentists to warn that they may not be able to reopen on that date because of problems sourcing PPE.
Dentists in Northern Ireland are yet to be given a date when they can return to normal service.
Speaking during a virtual sitting of the House of Lords last week, Lord Rogan called on the UK-Government to adopt a four-nation approach to saving the dental sector from disaster.
Lord Rogan (courtesy of UK Parliament)
In his reply, Health and Social Care Minister Lord Bethell said that he and colleagues were “working on a UK-wide national plan,” adding, “it is a massive priority for the Government.”
However, speaking earlier today, Lord Rogan - a Deputy Lord Speaker - warned:
“I see no evidence of a UK-wide national plan for the dental sector. And if there is such a plan, Northern Ireland does not seem to be part of it.
“Boris Johnson’s Government has been thrown into chaos over recent days and it is about time that they got something right, starting with the implementation of a national plan to allow dentists in all four nations to reopen safely.
“Numerous UK Ministers have said this week that there is no longer a shortage of PPE.
“If that is indeed the case, there can be no reason why dentists either in Northern Ireland or Great Britain should be asked to reopen without ample supplies of personal protective equipment in place.
“But there is no time to waste. Boris Johnson and his beleaguered Ministers must act now.”