eGDCAnnual Report and Accounts 2024
Message from the Chair and Chief Executive
Our primary role is to protect the public by setting the framework for professional regulation and ensuring patient safety.
It is dental professionals who deliver safe and effective care to their patients, and we support their professionalism. We understand the pressure that they face, and we thank them for their hard work.
The dental sector has continued to face the same challenges as in recent years. We have seen increased patient demand and more evidence of a shift in dental professionals moving away from NHS dental services to the private sector, further increasing access issues for patients seeking NHS services. This may well have a longer-term impact on patient safety and is something we will continue to highlight with all our stakeholders, as the impact cannot be ignored.
Although our role and purpose did not change in 2024, other factors influencing how we deliver our role did. Our new Chief Executive, Tom Whiting, joined in June 2024, bringing a commitment to engage, listen and understand, both internally and externally. By visiting dental professionals where they work and speaking at their meetings and conferences, he has shown his commitment to be someone the sector can work with and has highlighted that we want to be a trusted and effective regulator.
We also worked with colleagues throughout the organisation to agree on a refreshed set of values to guide how we think and act in 2025 and beyond. We aspire to be respectful, transparent, inclusive and purposeful. We expect dental professionals and stakeholders will see and experience these values as we embed them across the board.
As we are committed to equality and diversity in everything we do, we updated our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) strategy in 2024 and started regular reporting against our objectives. We still have work to do in this area – we did not meet the Professional Standards Authority’s new EDI standards last year but are committed to doing better in future.
Meeting the PSA’s registration standard was a real positive, considering we processed our highest-ever annual number of registration applications (12,978). Reducing the backlog of applications from overseas qualified dentists to register in the UK as a dental hygienist or dental therapist – before that route closed in March 2024 – is another. Modernising the systems and processes for registering dental professionals is long overdue, and we expect dental professionals to see a difference as we embark on a programme to digitalise our services this year.
While we did not meet the PSA’s standard for Fitness to Practise, we continued to improve processes in this area, with a primary objective of reducing stress and the negative impact of an investigation. There is much more to do, and we have firm plans to continue this important work in 2025.
We also consulted on revising education standards and look forward to updating these this year, along with continuing to quality assure undergraduate dental education, approve new programmes and work with stakeholders to implement the Safe Practitioner Framework.
In 2024, we gathered and shared more information about the dental workforce than ever before. This helped to inform the debate about access to NHS dentistry – which we recognise remains an issue for the public – and provides a useful resource for workforce planners across the UK.
Finally, we continued engaging stakeholders across the four nations at industry events, conferences, and meetings and by convening the Dental Leadership Network. Our work to listen, understand and respond to the issues facing the sector drives our decision-making and priorities. Building and nurturing relationships will remain very important to us.
2025 will see updated guidance on the Standards for Education and Scope of Practice, both after extensive and invaluable stakeholder engagement. We will be bold in our plans to improve fitness to practise, improving guidance on decision making to ensure fairness and consistency, providing more support for dental professionals, through training our staff and signposting to help, and looking to address and reduce fear.
We also want to improve our digital capability and modernise our processes, to improve the experience for dental professionals accessing online services, such as registration and renewal. We will continue to invest in our workforce and culture to build an organisation that delivers in line with our new values.
In 2025 we will engage in a public consultation on our Corporate Strategy from 2026 to 2028. We look forward to hearing views on what we need to deliver to be a trusted and effective regulator, and to continue to support and work with dental professionals to deliver safe and effective care to their patients.
Lord Toby Harris
Chair
Tom Whiting
Chief Executive and Registrar
You can download a copy of the full report using the link on the left.