A view from the Chair: joining the GDC, priority ORE bookings for refugees, and new guidance on requests for new dental schools

Several senior roles opened for recruitment in the GDC’s Legal and Governance team and in the Council itself in January. These are opportunities to shape the future of dental regulation in the UK, at a time when the dental sector and professionals remain under pressure and access to NHS dentistry remains a challenge for patients and the public. 

Our vision is for a system of regulation that supports the provision of safe, effective oral health care. We will play our part to ensure this, collaborating with partners to do so, and these appointments will also play a vital role in achieving this vision. We welcome applications from candidates who have a diverse range of backgrounds and can bring fresh perspectives and experience to the organisation. I would urge you to look at the roles in the Council and in the Legal and Governance team if you have an interest. 

Improving access for refugees to the Overseas Registration Examination (ORE) 

Dental professionals who qualified outside the UK make an important contribution to the workforce, and the trend in recent years has been for their numbers to grow. This has put unprecedented demand on the ORE and we know that booking places is a challenge. 

Refugee candidates have unique challenges, unable to return to their home countries to practise and may find it difficult to access documentation that provides evidence of their qualifications.  

I am therefore very pleased that we have been able improve their ability to join the register by providing access to a dedicated ORE booking window before general bookings open. We expect priority places for refugees to be a small proportion of the overall number of people trying to book an exam place. This approach reinforces our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion and I am grateful to stakeholders for their feedback, helping us to understand and respond to the experience of refugee dental professionals who come to the UK.  

Providing information to support requests for new dental schools 

In recent months we have seen more interest from education providers seeking to establish new dental schools, in response to the dental workforce challenges. A provider must have what is called Dental Authority Status (DAS) in order to offer dental degree programmes that lead to registration in dentistry in the UK. DAS is a legal status described in the Dentists Act 1984 and awarded to organisations by the Privy Council. 

One of the GDC’s most important responsibilities is setting and quality assuring the standards for dental education, as this ensures that those joining the register meet the required standards. We also provide advice to the Privy Council in relation to applications for new dental schools. We wanted to clarify the process involved in requesting Dental Authority Status (DAS), and the timescales and organisations involved in applying for this, including our own submission process. 

When it comes to approving a new dental school, other organisations have a strong interest, as well as the GDC and Privy Council. The guidance recommends that providers wanting to set up a new dental school should make other stakeholders aware of their intentions, including the local postgraduate dean, local or neighbouring dental schools and the relevant government department and Chief Dental Officer of the country in which it will be located. Once established, a provider with DAS who intends to offer Government-funded places must also engage with the Office for Students. 

I am grateful to stakeholders who helped us to develop the guidance, available on our website.