Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of sick pay support for NHS dental nurses when self-isolating during the covid-19 outbreak.

Staff on National Health Service terms and conditions of service (Agenda for Change), including NHS dental nurses, will receive full pay if they are told to self-isolate, meaning they will be paid the same as if they had come to work. This ensures NHS staff can follow infection control procedures without worrying about their finances.

For dental nurses, who are directly employed by dental practices with an NHS contract and are therefore providing an element of NHS care, terms and conditions will be dictated by the agreement they have in place with their employer, the NHS dental contract holder.