Dental Tribune UK Edition, October 25-3, 2010, No.26 Vol.4

Published by Dental Tribune UK Ltd © 2010, Dental Tribune UK Ltd. All rights reserved. Dental Tribune UK Ltd makes every effort to report clinical information and manufacturer’s product news accurately, but cannot assume responsibility for the validity of product claims, or for typographical errors. The publishers also do not assume responsibility for product names or claims, or statements made by advertisers. Opinions expressed by authors are their own and may not reflect those of Dental Tribune International. Group Editor Lisa Townshend Tel: 020 7400 8979 Lisa@dentaltrib- uneuk.com Managing Director Mash Seriki Mash@dentaltrib- uneuk.com Director Noam Tamir Noam@dentaltrib- uneuk.com Editorial Assistant Laura Hatton Laura..hatton@dentalt- ribuneuk.com Advertising Director Joe Aspis Tel: 020 7400 8969 Joe@dentaltribuneuk. com Sales Executive Sam Volk Tel: 020 7400 8964 Sam@dentaltrib- uneuk.com Design & Production Ellen Sawle Ellen@dentaltrib- uneuk.com Dental Tribune UK Ltd 4th Floor, Treasure House, 19–21 Hatton Garden, London, EC1N 8BA T he General Dental Coun- cil (GDC) has opened its new 12 week consultation into revalidation. The aim of the revalidation is to provide a way of checking that dentists continue to meet GDC. The issue that the GDC’s Fit- ness to Practise proceedings has had in the past is that it is as- sumed dental professionals are continuing to meet its standards, unless the regulator receives in- formation which suggests oth- erwise. The GDC have admitted that this is not good enough. The GDC plans to introduce revalidation for dentists in 2014: they have stated that the revalida- tion will simply build on the cur- rent requirements for continuing professional development and will provide an opportunity for those in difficulty to identify and tackle any problems before they become serious. A standards and evidence framework will set out the stand- ards dentists must meet under the four domains of clinical, manage- ment and leadership, communi- cation and professionalism. The framework will also set out the evidence which will be accept- able to demonstrate compliance with each standard. Dentists will gather this evi- dence over five years, and revali- date at the end of each cycle. The GDC are proposing a three-stage process at the end of each cycle: • Stage 1 – compliance check, which will apply to all dentists; • Stage 2 – remediation phase, which will provide an opportu- nity to dentists who do not pass Stage 1 to remedy deficiencies; • Stage 3 – in-depth assessment, which will apply to dentists who fail to demonstrate compliance at the end of the remediation phase. The consultation can be found on the GDC’s website www.gdc- uk.org. The proposals aim to avoid over-regulation by making as much use of existing and de- veloping quality systems. The consultation takes into account the findings of an earlier consultation, research and pilots carried out in 2009. Chair of the GDC’s Revalida- tion Working Group and Council Member, Denis Toppin said: “We are keen to get feedback from a range of stakeholders including registrants, patients, organisa- tions representing the interests of patients and providers of quality initiatives. We want to make sure we get it right for the dentists we regulate. As a practising GDP I want the GDC to keep the extra regulatory burden to a minimum whilst maximising patient pro- tection. We need you to get in- volved and have your say on our proposals so that you can help us to get them right and have the confidence of the public and pro- fessionals alike.” DT GDC launches revalidation consultation October 25-31, 20102 News United Kingdom Edition