The General Dental CouncilPaul Feeney – Head of Quality Assurance

Phil Higgs - Head of European and International Registration

Patrick Kavanagh – Registration Development Manager

www.gdc-uk.orgGENERAL DENTAL COUNCILwww.gdc-uk.org

The GDC – a little bit of history...• First Dentists Act 1878• Restriction on use of titles “dentist” and “dental

practitioner”• Register first published in 1879• GDC established in 1956• The Dentists’ Act 1984• Amended 2005 – the whole dental team:

(Hygienists ,therapists, dental nurses, dental technicians, clinical dental technicians and orthodontic therapists have been regulated since Summer 2008.)

www.gdc-uk.org

What we do to Quality Assure (QA) dental education

We develop standards of competence, and quality assurance systems to make sure that those standards are being met, so that we can demonstrate that dental professionals are:

Fit to practise when they first register with us;

Stay fit to practise once they are on our registers.

www.gdc-uk.org

GDC role in education and training• New course proposals

• Existing courses

www.gdc-uk.org

We quality assure (QA):

We develop standards of competence, and quality assurance systems to make sure that those standards are being met, so that we can demonstrate that dental professionals are:

Fit to practise when they first register with us;

Stay fit to practise once they are on our registers.

www.gdc-uk.org

Inspections•Team of 32 inspectors•1-2 day inspections•Usually 3 inspectors (1 dentist, 1 DCP and 1 lay) plus 1member of GDC staff •Flexible format to meet need

Inspection reports•“Errors and exceptions” plus learning outcomes•Produced within 4-6 weeks•Draft to school for factual accuracy and observations•Contains requirements and recommendations and •Recommendation to GDC that course is “sufficient” or not

www.gdc-uk.org

Routes to RegistrationAutomatic Recognition and General Systems

a) A scheduled EEA Diploma (including UK) generates registration

b) Non-scheduled diploma plus “acquired rights” generates registration

c) Assessment of recognised overseas diploma plus experience

Generates registration if successful.

d) Failure of “c” results in offer of “compensation measure”

e) Dentists: derogation to aptitude test; DCPs :choice of compensation

www.gdc-uk.org

Dentists Register October 2011

By Qualification Origin

www.gdc-uk.org

Total Percentage

EEA Qualified 5943 15.67

Overseas Qualified 2102 5.54

IQE / ORE 2222 5.86

UK Qualified 27652 75.92

Romanian-qualified on the Dentist Register, October 2011

www.gdc-uk.org

Automatic recognition 545

General Systems 12

IMI Traffic –last 6 monthsIn

Out

France 2

Poland 2 1

Sweden 1

Denmark 1

Hungary 1

Ireland 1

Italy 1

Portugal 1

Romania 5

www.gdc-uk.org

Continuing Professional Development

Demonstrate that registrants are keeping theirknowledge up to date

Dentists250 hours over 5 yearsCore recommended subjects75 hours must be verifiable

DCPs150 hours over 5 yearsCore recommended subjects50 hours must be verifiable

www.gdc-uk.org

Standards for Dental Professionals

www.gdc-uk.org

Our Standards

There are six key principles in this booklet:

• Put patients’ interests first and act to protect them;• Respect patients’ dignity and choices;• Protect the confidentiality of patients’ information;• Co-operating with other members of the dental team and other healthcare colleagues in the interests of patients;• Maintaining your professional knowledge and competence;• Being trustworthy.

www.gdc-uk.org

Supporting guidance

Principles of Dental Team Working

Principles of Patient Consent

Principles of Patient Confidentiality

Principles of Complaints Handling

Principles of Raising Concerns

• Scope of Practice

www.gdc-uk.org

Scope of Practice

•

•This guidance sets out the skills and abilities

each registrant group should have;

• It also outlines the type of additional skills they might acquire during their career;

www.gdc-uk.org

OUR KEY PURPOSE

Protecting patients, regulating the dental team. This is why we exist.

We support the quality of practice and reputation of the profession by setting standards, promoting them and taking action when they are not met.

All of this ensures that patients are protected.