General Dental Council opens consultation on Student FTP guidance, UK

Main Category: Dentistry
Also Included In: Medical Students / Training
Article Date: 09 Mar 2009 - 8:00 PDT

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The GDC is gathering views on the draft guidance regarding Student Fitness to Practise through a new consultation. The guidance document is aimed not only at student dentists, but also at all student dental care professionals as well as the institutions which provide dental training.

The purpose of the guidance is to instil in students a greater awareness of professionalism and a commitment to the GDC's Standards for Dental Professionals.

Another key aim is to help dental schools and other training providers deal with issues which may arise during a course of study that call into question whether a student is fit to practise during training or in the future.

The GDC and the other healthcare regulators have developed this guidance in response to the UK Government's White Paper Trust, Assurance and Safety. It requires the regulators to strengthen their relationships with healthcare students and the institutions which provide their training. The GDC's Student FtP guidance also aims to ensure the safety of patients being treated by students as part of their training.

The aim of the consultation is to gather a range of views which will help make the guidance as effective and as helpful as possible.

Hew Mathewson, GDC President, said:

"We are keen to get as many responses as possible to the consultation, especially from students and those teaching on training courses for approved qualifications. This is an ideal opportunity for education providers and students to tell us what would be most helpful to them."

The consultation can be completed online via this link to the website:

GDC - News, publications & events - Consultations - Current consultations - Student Fitness to Practise guidance

Notes

1. The three month consultation opened on 26 February 2009 and will close at 5pm on 26 May 2009.

2. The government White Paper Trust, Assurance and Safety required healthcare regulators to ensure both the safety of patients being treated by healthcare students and that healthcare professionals are fit to practise at the point of initial registration with their respective regulator.

3. The GDC have used the previously published General Medical Council (GMC) SFtP guidance as a springboard for creating their own guidance aimed at training providers for dentists and DCPs and for students enrolled on courses leading to registration with the GDC.

General Dental Council

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