STEVEN CAMPBELL, DLA PRESIDENT UPDATES ITS MEMBERS ON ITS ONGOING WORK WITH THE SHADOW MINISTER OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE ON THE LACK OF SUPPORT LABS RECEIVED DURING THE CLOSURE OF THE DENTAL PROFESSION Leave a comment

Dear DLA Member, Following the DLA’s on going work with Alex Norris MP, the Shadow Minister for Health and Social Care, an amendment to the Health and Social Care Act was put forward to represent the interests of Dental Laboratories following the lack of funding and support made available to the sector both in the initial stages of Covid lockdown and the subsequent tiered re-opening of dental practices.
The amendment focused on both investment in training and development for individuals wishing to become registered dental technicians, as well as the need to promote Buy British, ensuring regulatory and commercial conditions were right for dental laboratories to be able to still provide NHS and Private custom made dental appliances.
As with many amendments, it was not carried forward with the Bill, however the Minister for Health has now committed to meeting with the Shadow Minister for Health and the DLA to further look at what the UK Government can provide and facilitate to meet the requests and address the concerns outlined in the debate this morning.
Obviously, the DLA would have preferred for the legislation to have been amended to directly name dental laboratories in their commitment to provide dental services, but based in initial feedback from parliamentarians we do believe that this is a significant step forward in that the Government have on record acknowledged the lack of specific support for dental laboratories and that the Minister themselves will be holding a meeting with the DLA to try and develop a more appropriate pathway forward.
When the transcript from the debate is made public, we will share this with the membership, equally we will keep members up to date with the progress of our meeting and the proposals we shall table with the Minister for Health in due course.
The DLA would like to put on record their thanks to Alex Norris MP and his team for all their work and support in preparing and tabling the amendment for todays debate.
Thank you for your continued support.
Steven Campbell. DLA President.