Bristol dental patient shocked by £60 PPE charge
A dental patient from Bristol has spoken of her shock after being charged an extra £60 for PPE (protective personal equipment).
Beverly Hawkins took to social media to ask other patients in the local area whether they had paid extra for dental treatment. Beverly was surprised to see a £60 surcharge on her bill after visiting Warrington House Dental Practice in Brislington. Many people replied to her comments saying that they were disgusted with the fees, and some also stated that they had visited their dentist with no additional charges for PPE. Some private dental providers are charging extra to cover PPE costs, but fees are not being applied for NHS treatment.
Beverly pays for treatment through Denplan, and she said she was completely taken aback to see the £60 fee added to her invoice. She wanted to speak to others and see what kinds of experiences they have had going to the dentist recently, and her post on a local Facebook page attracted a lot of attention. Within hours, there were several comments. Many locals disagreed with the fees, while others were sympathetic to dentists charging extra to cover additional costs. Most agreed that £60 seemed expensive, and many patients had paid a much smaller fee.
Director of the practice, Touraj Razavi, explained that the extra charges are a temporary measure, which are only applicable to aerosol-generating procedures, including fillings, extractions and root canal treatment.
The cost of sourcing PPE, which is required by all dental teams in line with infection control guidelines, has soared since the beginning of the year, with clinics paying up to 6000% more per patient.
