British Dental Association Response To SGHD Decontamination Funding Announcement

Main Category: Dentistry
Article Date: 12 Sep 2008 - 0:00 PDT

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The British Dental Association (BDA) has said it is pleased with the continuing support being provided to help dental practices that provide NHS dental care across Scotland comply with changing decontamination guidance.

Responding to news of £5million of new funding from the Scottish Government, Colin Crawford, Chair of the BDA's Scottish Dental Practice Committee (SDPC), said: "Today's announcement recognises the significant difficulties dentists across Scotland face complying with the changing decontamination guidelines and continues a long-term programme of support for upgrading premises announced last year. Patient safety is the top priority for all dentists and the Scottish Dental Practice Committee is pleased that this support is to continue. It is important that appropriate resources continue to be made available as the changing requirements are developed further.

"However, for a number of dentists and their patients funding is not the answer. We know from the BDA's own research that approximately a quarter of dental practices in Scotland simply don't have enough space to meet the specifications outlined in the guidelines."

Details of the announcement are available here.

The British Dental Association (BDA) is the professional association for dentists in the UK. It represents over 23,000 dentists working in general practice, in community and hospital settings, in academia and research, and in the armed forces.

British Dental Association

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