Latest updates from the GDC
A view from the Chair: November
Our Chair’s November blog post highlights the considerations for setting the new lower Annual Retention Fee (ARF), our plans to gather data to improve understanding of the dental workforce and explains how we’ll be sharing perspectives from patients and the public at the next Dental Leadership Network event.
Budget and ARF set for 2024
Council approved our priorities for the next three years, and set the budget and ARF for 2024 on 27 October. The reduced ARF will be £621 for dentists and £96 for dental care professionals.
You can find out more about these changes on our website.
Care Quality Commission State of Care report 2022/23
The Care Quality Commission has published its annual assessment of health and social care; the State of Care report 2022/23. The report includes a review of access to NHS dental services in England, indicating that in 2022/23 the average quarterly units of NHS dental activity were 14% lower than the average activity in the two years before the pandemic.
Consultation on licensing of non-surgical cosmetic procedures
The Department of Health and Social Care has been consulting on proposals to bring into force a licensing scheme in England for non-surgical cosmetic procedures. The purpose of the scheme is to help ensure customers can be confident that the treatment they receive is safe and of a high standard. The consultation closed on 28 October.
You can read our response in the consultations section of our website.
Take our survey on new ways of setting standards and guidance
As part of our work on exploring professionalism, we recently held a series of online events to consider new ways of setting standards and guidance for dental professionals. You can now watch the recordings of all five events on our website and take a survey to provide your views on this very important work.
The events were open to the public and were attended by just over 200 people. Attendees included dental professionals and stakeholders from a range of organisations, including professional bodies, indemnifiers, education providers and corporate service providers.
We will shortly publish a summary of the discussions held, and the feedback we received at these events. In the meantime, we encourage you to take part in our short survey on exploring new ways of setting standards and guidance.
Find updates on our work in the exploring professionalism section of our website.
Chief Executive and Registrar to depart on 6 November
After nearly eight years leading the GDC, Ian Brack will be stepping down as Chief Executive and Registrar on 6 November. Ian Brack is leaving having placed the GDC on a sound financial footing and implemented a strong culture of planning and delivery.
Our Chief Operating Officer, Gurvinder Soomal, will act as Interim Chief Executive until a new Chief Executive and Registrar is in place.
Find out more on our website.
Specialist List Assessed Applications resume at pace
We have been working on a new process for our Specialist List Assessed Applications, which restarted in August 2023. Read more about the new process and our plans for further improvements in our recent blog post.
NHS dentistry payment reforms in Scotland
Significant NHS dentistry payment reforms come into effect in Scotland today, 1 November 2023. These include changes to:
- dental remuneration
- the examination recall period alongside clinical discretion
- increased fees for restorative payments and an increased prior approval limit
- increased NHS patient charges with retained capping per individual treatment plan, payment exemption provisions, and financial support via the NHS low income scheme.
Frequently Asked Questions and an overview of the changes has been prepared by the Scottish Government which outlines requirements to fully inform patients and signpost them for information on help with costs.
Online resources for dental professionals including a series of short videos are hosted by NES Turas and further information for patients can be found online at NHS Inform.