Following the Prime Minister’s announcement that from Thursday 5th November 2020 England will enter a period of tighter national restrictions until 2nd December, the Government’s guidance states that “a number of public services will also stay open and you will be able to leave home to visit them. These include […] the NHS and medical services like GPs”. The Chief Dental Officer for England has confirmed that this does include dental services.
Therefore, during this lockdown, our practices will remain open to treat patients in line with the Standard Operating Procedures and recently updated National Infection Prevention and Control Procedures, both of which are already in place across all our locations.
We continue to operate the Urgent Dental Care Hubs (UDCH) for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly on behalf of NHS England, which has been the case since we opened the county’s first Hub in Bodmin on Easter Saturday, and our valuable telephone triage service remains in place across the week accessible via our dedicated Call Centre on 0333 405 0290.
Here is an update on service provision in our specific practice locations:
Isles of Scilly – we are delivering services to island residents including some routine care and operating the island-based UDCH for both residents and visitors. Our new full time Island Dentist starts on 9th November
Lescudjack, Penzance – continues to operate as an UDCH with routine Brighter Dental patients being seen for emergencies, completion of planned treatment and more regular appointments (both registered NHS and private patients). Special care services are operational one day per week for those patients on existing care pathways
Camborne – our telephone triage service continues one day per week with a second day dedicated to special care services for those patients on existing care pathways
Falmouth – we’re providing face-to-face services for our existing orthodontic patients to continue with their treatment and resolve any emergencies
Truro Health Park – continues to operate as an UDCH with special care services operational across the week
Newquay – we’re providing face-to-face services for our existing orthodontic patients to continue with their treatment and resolve any emergencies, and slowly starting to plan new orthodontic courses of treatment. On a Monday our Brighter Dental dentist is there reviewing and planning dental treatments for existing patients (both NHS and private) and our Dental Hygiene Therapist is providing hygiene and therapy services for our privately registered patients
Harleigh Road Dental Centre, Bodmin – continues to operate as an UDCH with special care services operational across the week. Brighter Dental patients are being seen for emergencies, completion of existing planned treatment, emergencies and more regular appointments (both registered NHS and private patients)
Saltash – Brighter Dental services have resumed for our privately registered patients and our Dental Hygiene Therapist is also providing hygiene and therapy services
Patient Plans – these have been reinstated with patients on these plans being seen alongside our private Brighter Dental patients in Newquay, Bodmin and Saltash. If you would like to register for a Patient Plan there is more information here