To ask the Minister of Health what additional support his Department is providing to dental practices during the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure they can (i) adequately meet the financial cost associated with the procurement of additional personal protective equipment and reduced patient capacity; and (ii) obtain the required personal protective equipment.

Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic the Department of Health has provided significant financial support to dentists, primarily through the Financial Support Scheme (FSS). There have been 4 months of FSS payments made to date between April and July 2020. The total level of FSS and net Item of Service payments made over this period is just under £20 million (£16 million FSS) which represents a 23% increase compared with the net IoS payments made over this period in 2019-20.

At the end of June I agreed that dentists should be provided with Level 1 Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to assist them during the phased re-establishment of General Dental Services (GDS). Approximately £1m worth of Level 1 PPE has been procured and is being distributed to individual dental practices; equating to approximately £2,600 of PPE per practice.

I have recently approved the allocation of an additional £3.8 million in funding to assist General Dental Practitioners (GDP) in the purchasing of the Level 2 PPE necessary to undertake Aerosol Generation Procedures (AGPs).