Patients will no longer be required to sign dental forms

To further minimise the transmission rate of COVID-19, patients will no longer be required to sign dental forms, accepted as temporary for five months by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, ending on 31 March 2021.

The approval will suspend the need for patients to provide their signature on dental, prescription and ophthalmic forms. Contractors must complete any sections of the treatment plan or practice record form, where patients visit NHS dental services, which would typically be performed by the patient.

Nonetheless, it is also mandatory for patients to show that they are eligible for an exemption from payments or to pay the appropriate fee, and if eligible contractors must, on behalf of the patient, mark this on the form. Furthermore, contractors should annotate the document with ‘COVID-19’ where patients would usually sign the form.

The new guidance states: “A temporary suspension of these signatures is now in force. It will last initially until 31 March 2021. This will – however – be kept under review and may be extended, if there continues to be a cross-infection risk or removed, as soon as it is deemed safe for patients to resume signing forms.”