NHS England and the Chief Dental Officer have published updated guidance in relation to the redeployment of dental staff to support the wider response to COVID-19. The publication ‘Redeploying the Clinical Workforce to Support the NHS Clinical Delivery Plan for COVID-19’ (the “Guidance”) was most recently updated on 9 April 2020.
This sets out a redeployment framework through which dental professionals can register notes of interest via an online questionnaire, interest which will then be subject to triage based on a number of factors, including competencies and experience. Information will then be sent to regional area teams which will recruit staff according to demands and operational needs.
Whilst this is a good thing in principle, there are a number of questions that remain unanswered as to how this will translate in practical terms. Here we highlight two of the main questions:
- What steps are dental practices required to take in relation to the redeployment of their staff?
For practices in receipt of NHS funding, NHS England’s letter of preparedness of the 25 March 2020 stated that continued NHS funding was ‘conditional upon practices being required to offer all available staff capacity to other areas’. This suggested that the active offering of staff was required. However, the Guidance simply states that ‘As part of the funding package, the NHS encourages dental practices to support the redeployment of professionals and staff working in general dental services to underpin the wider NHS response’.
The language used in the Guidance generally suggests that redeployment is voluntary and it suggests that the individual staff members themselves are to express their interest, but at the same time it still remans a condition of continued NHS funding for the contract holder.
So what should practice owners be doing? The Guidance does not explain what is meant by ‘support’ in practice and how this is to be achieved. Does this mean general encouragement of staff to volunteer, or the active assignment of individuals for particular roles? And what if staff resist?
As a minimum, it would seem that practice owners should be encouraging their staff to volunteer and keeping an audit trail of their actions as evidence, but we would expect the requirement to be more than this, However, we are still at an early stage, particularly in certain parts of the country, and it may be prudent for practice owners to watch for further updates in the coming days.
Depending on what is required there will be a number of things to consider from an employment law perspective, including consideration of existing contractual terms and the flexibility they allow.
- How will redeployment work in mixed private and NHS dental practices (of which there are many)?
The Guidance says that ‘for staff in UDA funded practices further guidance will be provided separately to recognise the nature of various funding streams that underpins most NHS dental practices’. In terms of remuneration for redeployment it simply states that for staff in UDA funded practices the proportion of their time that is non-NHS employment (measured as a proportion of their time pro rata to the percentage of practice revenue that does not come from NHS funding) will be recompensed at the appropriate pay scale for the role.
But how does this work in practice? If NHS funding makes up under 10% of a practice’s overall revenue, how does that translate into actual staff to be redeployed? It is unlikely that staff will be designated to NHS work, and if taken literally the proportion may translate to part of a role at the most, depending on the level of NHS funding. Does this mean that a certain number of hours need to be offered, and can time be split across staff or must one member be redeployed?
It is also unclear how this would work alongside any use of the government’s Job Retention Scheme. This is something that many practices with private income will need to make use of, and which it has been confirmed they can in respect of non-NHS funding. What does it mean if someone is partly redeployed to reflect an NHS income stream? Can they still be placed on furlough leave for the remainder of their role or salary (at 80%)? Or will the practice owner need to cover this or seek a variation to their contract if the income is simply not there?
These are key questions that dental practices will need clarity on so they can start planning and communicating effectively with their staff. Hopefully the further guidance referred to will be published soon.
If you would like to discuss any of the issues raised in this article please contact Catherine Hope.
