A dental practice in Bath has been accused of profiteering during the coronavirus crisis by offering to sell surplus face masks for £50 each to the city’s residents.
The Bath Echo was contacted by a concerned resident who had received a hand-delivered letter from Warminster Road-based The Talbot Clinic, offering FFP3 type masks used by frontline NHS workers.
In the letter, The Talbot Clinic’s Clinical Director Toby Talbot says “the availability of the FFP3 mask will be severely rationed for the time being” and that “the masks can be used repeatedly for 12 days” or “for a total of 288 hours”.
It continues: “As a provider of healthcare services in Bath, we will be receiving a supply of FFP3 face masks next week. After we have supplied healthcare staff, we will have a surplus to offer our immediate neighbours who need to venture outdoors.”
Residents are then offered the opportunity to “have these masks for their own personal protection” for the price of £50 per mask.

An extract from the letter sent to residents in Bath
The NHS advises that wearers of FFP3 equipment are given a “fit test” to ensure the mask is being worn correctly and that hand-hygiene is carried out before PPE equipment is removed, neither of which is outlined in the letter.
The resident who contacted the Bath Echo described the attempt to sell the masks as “shameless profiteering” and “designed to prey on the insecurities and fears of local residents”.
They also called for the dental practice to simply donate surplus masks to the NHS rather than sell them.
The specialist filtered FFP3 masks are used by frontline NHS workers when they are dealing with patients with a suspected or confirmed infectious respiratory virus, such as COVID-19. They can be bought online for between £5-£20.
Despite a number of attempts to talk to The Talbot Clinic about the sale of the masks, we have not yet had a response.