General Dental Council Gives Last Continuing Professional Development Warning To Dentists, UK

Main Category: Dentistry
Article Date: 09 Oct 2006 - 0:00 PDT

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Dentists in the last year of their first five-year continuing professional development (CPD) cycle who have failed to make any annual declarations are being warned by the General Dental Council (GDC) that their registration is at risk.

The GDC has written to alert these dentists, and to give them an opportunity to make a declaration of the CPD hours they have completed since their cycle started in 2002. Dentists who cannot show they have met the CPD requirements by the end of 2006 will be removed from the GDC register.

The GDC's compulsory CPD scheme was introduced in January 2002 to encourage dentists to update and develop their skills and knowledge for the benefit of patients and the profession. Under the scheme, all dentists must complete 250 hours of CPD every five years. At least 75 of these hours must be spent on verifiable CPD, and documentary evidence of these activities must be kept.

GDC Chief Executive & Registrar, Duncan Rudkin commented:

"All dentists need to fill in a CPD declaration form each year to make sure they are on track with the Council's CPD requirements. Completing the form is a legal requirement. At the last count, we found that approximately 400 of the 11,000 dentists now in the last year of their first CPD cycle had not made any annual declarations at all. By not complying with the requirements of the scheme, these dentists stand to lose their registration."

With the end of their first cycle approaching, all dentists who joined the CPD scheme in 2002 must make sure that they are on track to meet the required number of CPD hours.

The GDC has also written to all strategic health authorities in England and the health boards in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland to highlight the end of the first five-year CPD cycle and to seek their help in ensuring dentists meet the requirements of the scheme.

1. Every year the GDC writes to all dentists in the CPD scheme to ask them to make a declaration of the number of hours they have spent on CPD.

2. The CPD scheme was rolled out to all dentists in three phases. The table below shows when dentists will complete their first CPD cycle.

--Date of first registration - Between 1 January 1990 and 31 December 2001 (if you were on the Register on 31 December 2001)
End-date of first CPD cycle - 31 December 2006

-- Date of first registration - Between 1 January 1990 and 31 December 2001 (if you were not on the Register on 31 December 2001)
End-date of first CPD cycle - 31 December 2007

-- Date of first registration - Between 1 January 1980 and 31 December 1989
End-date of first CPD cycle - 31 December 2007

-- Date of first registration - On or before 31 December 1979
End-date of first CPD cycle - 31 December 2008

-- Date of first registration - 2002
End-date of first CPD cycle - 31 December 2007

-- Date of first registration - 2003
End-date of first CPD cycle - 31 December 2008

-- Date of first registration - 2004
End-date of first CPD cycle - 31 December 2009

-- Date of first registration - 2005
End-date of first CPD cycle - 31 December 2010

-- Date of first registration - 2006
End-date of first CPD cycle - 31 December 2011

3. CPD Audits
At the end of this year the GDC will conduct its first CPD audit. A number of dentists whose annual declarations show that they have met the requirements of the CPD scheme will be selected at random to take part in the audit. Those selected will need to send in all their records.

4. CPD Core Subjects
The GDC is recommending that all dentists carry out CPD in core recommended subjects from the beginning of their next CPD cycle. This recommendation follows a public consultation earlier this year. A copy of the GDC's revised CPD guidance is being sent to all dentists in October.

5. CPD for dental care professionals
The GDC plans to extend compulsory CPD to dental care professionals in 2008.

6. More information
For more information on CPD, including the recommendations on core subjects, contact the GDC:
Telephone: 020 7887 3800
www.gdc-uk.org/Current+registrant/CPD+requirements
Email: gdcregistration@gdc-uk.org

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