LDC officials day report from 26/11/21. IPC guidance and dental appendix update.

Dear colleague, Please see the link to the report of LDC Officials' Day 26-11-21 The copies of the slides that we are allowed to share are available at: https://www.bda.org/officialsday I have been informed that the hyperlink relating to the new IPC Guidance summary in my last email may not have worked for everyone, and have therefore copied it below. Kind regards, Clint Foreman (Asst. Sec. Essex LDC)

Government IPC guidance and dental appendix are updatedThe dental appendix to the IPC guidance from the Government has now be published.Summary:

All patients should be screened for potential COVID-19 infection, ideally prior to attendance at the setting, using the COVID-19 screening questions. An example of COVID-19 screening questions can be found in the guidance.

• Based on screening the patient should be assigned to either a respiratory or non-respiratory pathway.

• For patients on the non-respiratory pathway standard infection control precautions (SICPs) apply. Testing for patients on the non-respiratory pathway should be in line with country specific requirements.

• For patients on the respiratory pathway transmission-based precautions (TBPs) apply in addition to SICPs.

• For patients on the respiratory pathway undergoing aerosol generating procedures (AGPs), post AGP downtime applies.

Other requirements from the previous appendix remain in place, so please read the full dental appendix carefully.

An update to the NHS England and NHS Improvement document: "Dental standard operating procedure: Transition to recovery" is expected to follow, as a result of the updates to the IPC guidance.Access the dental appendix to the IPC guidance