Latest updates from the GDC - January 2022

CPD statements for Annual Renewal  

The annual renewal period for dentists has now closed.  

Dentists now have until 28 January to submit their CPD statement. This includes dentists who have a shortfall in hours in CPD hours due to COVID-19. Dentists should login to their eGDC account to check that their CPD statement has been completed.  

Those who did not manage to pay their ARF or declare indemnity declaration on time need to apply for restoration to the register. Please also be aware that restoration applications may take longer than the normal 15 working days at the moment due to the high volumes we receive at this time of the year and the high number of applications currently being processed.  

A view from the Chair: regulating the whole dental team

In his first blog post of 2022, our Chair, Lord Toby Harris, shares his thoughts on our role as the regulator for the whole dental team in all four nations of the UK, the prospect of a government consultation on changes urgently required to our legislation, and the importance of engaging with students and new dental professionals.   

Biology unlikely to drive ethnic differences in COVID-19 risk for healthcare workers  

The differences in COVID-19 infection risk between ethnic minority healthcare workers and their White colleagues is likely due to home and work factors rather than biology, according to the largest and most detailed study on the subject.

Previous research has shown that healthcare workers from ethnic minority groups are at a disproportionately higher risk of contracting COVID-19 than their White colleagues. However, once work factors, such as job role and location, and number of patients with COVID-19 they cared for, and lifestyle factors, such as living with other healthcare workers and age are considered, this difference in risk is no longer seen. The results are published on MedRxiv (preprint).  

The UK-REACH study is an urgent public health study jointly funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), and the research was co-led by researchers at UCL. The work is supported by the GDC. 

Racism in dentistry: the scale and nature of the problem 

The British Dental Association (BDA) has been looking at the scale and nature of racism in dentistry and considering what we can do to tackle the causes. Shareena Ilyas, Chair of the Ethics, Education and Dental Team Working Group and Co-Chair of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee at the BDA explores the issue in this guest blog post. 

Changes to the Protecting Vulnerable Groups Scheme in Scotland

Disclosure Scotland is an agency of the Scottish Government which checks and shares information about people’s criminal records. Disclosure Scotland also manages the Protecting Vulnerable Groups Scheme which helps to ensure that unsuitable people do not carry out regulated work with children or protected adults.  

The Scottish Parliament agreed changes to the Scheme in 2020, which will be implemented in stages to be completed by 2024. These include making the Scheme mandatory, replacing lifetime membership of the scheme with a five-year membership period, and powers for Disclosure Scotland to impose conditions while membership is considered.  

Disclosure Scotland will be offering guidance and training opportunities ahead of implementation. Further details are available from the Disclosure Scotland website.