On July 4, 2023, the General Dental Council (GDC) launched a consultation on routes to registration for internationally qualified dentists and dental care professionals (DCPs).
The 12-week consultation includes a call for evidence to inform and support longer-term plans to develop a comprehensive framework for the assessment of international qualifications and registration.
The GDC is proposing new rules setting out the standards and processes for the assessment of qualifications of dentists and DCPs who qualified outside the UK that are broadly in line with the current arrangements. The proposed new rules for dentists need to be in place before the current rules cease to have effect in March 2024.
The GDC is also proposing changes to the way it sets fees for the ORE, to ensure fairness in the way costs are allocated and to remove the financial constraints associated with increasing the number of ORE places.
The number of places available for the ORE Part 1 has tripled for the remaining sittings in 2023 and all sittings in 2024. Recent reforms also mean there is a larger group of potential exam providers in future. These changes, alongside proposals to move to a cost recovery basis for the ORE, mean increased exam capacity in the short to medium term.
There are almost 13,000 (30 per cent) dentists and just over 2,700 (3.5 per cent) DCPs who qualified outside the UK registered to practise dentistry in the UK. Dentists who are internally qualified represented 46 per cent of all additions to the register in 2022, and 14 per cent of all DCP additions. They make an important contribution to the UK dental workforce.
The regulator is moving at pace to ensure it can continue to facilitate international registration while increasing the capacity of the ORE.
Stefan Czerniawski, GDC executive director of strategy, said, “The GDC is pleased to be able to launch this consultation. It is an important step towards creating a comprehensive framework for international registration that will deliver meaningful improvements to our processes while maintaining public safety and confidence.
“We are calling for evidence and views on how we can be assured that dental professionals have the necessary level of skills, knowledge and experience required to practise dentistry in the UK. That assessment is currently done through the ORE process for dentists and an independent assessment of qualifications for other dental professionals. We have invited views and evidence on the potential future structure of the ORE and whether there is a need for a practical assessment for DCPs.”
The consultation and call for evidence represent an opportunity to work with the GDC to shape the way it assesses international qualifications for entry to the UK registers.
The deadline for responses is 23:59 on September 26, 2023.