COVID-19 Update 29th May

After a long waiting period there is finally light at the end of the tunnel for us Dental Practices to re-open in the UK. After the Government announcement on the 28th May that ‘Dentists can open from the 8th of June’ we are currently working on a date to re-open. Please bear in mind that this announcement came as complete shock to the Dental Industry as according to many fonts of information coming in (including the British Dental Association) no one was expecting such short notice (1 week only). As we return to what it is called a ‘New Normal’ we will not be able to operate safely until we have a full range of measures and protocols in place (including appropriate Personal Protective Equipment PPE). We are still waiting for further information from the Chief Dental Officer on Standards of our Operating Procedures. Please understand that we will not re-open until we feel confident that we can provide our services (to the renowned high quality) in a safely manner. The safety of our Team and our Patients is paramount; is at the front of our operations, particularly in such sensitive times. Meanwhile, in the last two months we have already been working behind the scenes and are continuously working on protocols and on the purchase of PPE (which has been very hard to source due to prohibitive costs and lack of supply). We are rallying our 'troops’ back together by holding continuous meetings in the next two weeks with our Team in order to discuss and train them to the new standards. Everyone has to be confident at delivering by the new guidelines. Furthermore, please understand that the new procedures will have somehow some impact on operating times and appointment times, not just by us, but on a National level. We are working hard to minimize this, whilst taking into account people in need and emergencies. The Chief Dental Officer has stated that the NHS contract will likely suffer a reform and we understand that this may bring further changes to patients’ bookings, nationally. If you are a Denplan patient, we are writing to you with an update very soon. Please be assured that your dentist will be prioritizing Denplan patients. For all the above, our current expected opening date will be on the third week of June (from the 16th). Please understand that this may change. We will be updating it here, as we navigate over the coming two weeks and gather more accurate information. We would like to thank all our patients for all the support you gave us during this closure, whether by means of nice messages/emails that came through and/or by understanding and patience when we called you to re-schedule your appointment (sometimes twice even). All-in-all, I have no doubt that you will be able to return to a functional ‘Hive’ with hard working bees and once we get past this temporary state we are all in, we shall thrive again. Thank you for your understanding.

Miguel Colaço Provider and Principal Dentist at Honeycomb Dental Clinic