BDA members are reminded that PPE is available to NHS providers and orderable every seven days via the PPE portal.

To calculate the portal's order limit, practices need to calculate their number of units of dental activity (UDAs) plus number of units of orthodontic activity (UOAs), if any, multiplied by 1.5 per practice per year.

The given example shows that a practice that carries out 2,000 UDAs and 1,000 UOAs per year should report 2,000 plus (1,000 multiplied by 1.5) to get a composite metric of 3,500. The Department of Health has said in its personal protective equipment (PPE) strategy:

'The PPE Portal can be used by all adult social care residential care homes, domiciliary care providers, children's social care settings, GPs, community pharmacies, dentists and optometrists in England. The PPE Portal is intended to meet all COVID-19 needs supplied for free to these NHS contractors, supplementing the PPE supply for business as usual needs that these settings should continue accessing via their normal supply routes. The PPE Portal product range has been expanded and now includes aprons, gloves, type IIR masks, hand hygiene and visors. Additional items, such as respirator masks and gowns will also be made available to eligible service providers via the PPE Portal by October. Weekly order limits are based on provider size, and these will be increased to higher levels using modelled demand of COVID-19 PPE needs.'

Providers should have received an invitation to register sent to your email account registered with Care Quality Commission (CQC), NHS Business Services Authority (BSA), NHS England or the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).