I cannot stress this enough – unless your job or health absolutely mandates it – please stay indoors!
In a time of a global pandemic, why should the government of any country issue threats of strict lockdown measures in order to have its citizens comply with simple, straightforward advice on social distancing?!?! Is it ignorance? Selfishness? Malice? What part of it is so impossible to understand?
I am not a doctor or a virologist. I won’t be discussing the health implications of COVID-19. A lot of people seemingly don’t care about them, anyway. But I will explain the effect this level of carelessness actually has on health professionals on a local scale.
I work in dentistry. We have an NHS contract and over 5000 patients. We are classed as a primary care provider, meaning we are part of the set of services in charge of the day-to-day healthcare of the general population. We are also part of the network of urgent care providers – in our case toothache, dental and maxillofacial trauma, minor oral surgery, oral infections and abscesses, oral cancer detection, etc. Just like we cannot advise on what blood pressure medication would be best for you, most of what we do cannot be substituted with advice from your GP or local pharmacist. Most A&E departments are not equipped to assist with dental problems either. And currently all of the above are overwhelmed.
In a time of mass business closures, NHS dentists remain open as part of the general effort to provide essential health care services to our local communities. We follow strict infection control and decontamination procedures at all times. And since COVID-19 made the global headlines, those measures have increased tenfold. Yet, the risk to our health and to our ability to provide those essential services has not decreased a single bit. Why?
Let’s see:
- People ignoring government advice
- People ignoring GP advice
- People ignoring dentist advice on non essential visits.
- People not wearing face masks when in public
- People ignoring our pleas to use the hand sanitiser available in the practice
- People coming to the surgery with flu-like symptoms
- People having picnics in the park while a contagious viral disease is sweeping through the country, etc,
Our team consists of 9 people (only 4 of whom are dentists). What happens if one of us gets sick? Even with the current escalation of case numbers and deaths, the authorities still refuse to test primary care workers for suspected COVID-19. Following the current advice form Public Health England, the sick individual plus everyone they have been in touch with recently have to self-isolate for 14 days. In a team of 9 – that is the entire practice!
Other surgeries have already had to shut down due to staff shortages, putting an additional strain on an already struggling NHS. We are doing our best not to join them. But trust me, no amount of Personal Protective Equipment and surface disinfectants INSIDE the surgery can protect us from the level of disregard for public health some people are displaying on the OUTSIDE.
We are here to help, but we can’t help you if we are all on sick leave. And there are only so many NHS dental practices and community dentists able to remain open in each area. So please, don’t ignore the specialist advice! Help us (and your GPs and your pharmacists) help you. Protect the elderly and the vulnerable, protect the very young. Protect your healthcare workers. Wash your hands and PLEASE, STAY HOME!
Career Clichés 