GDC launches revalidation consultation

19 October 2010

THE General Dental Council has launched a 12 week consultation into revalidation – which it says will be implemented in 2014.

Under revalidation, a “standards and evidence framework” will set out the standards dentists must meet under the four domains of clinical, management and leadership, communication and professionalism.

The framework will also set out the evidence which will be acceptable to demonstrate compliance with each standard. The GDC said dentists will gather this evidence over five-years, and revalidate at the end of each cycle.

The council is 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 opportunity 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 their compliance at the end of the remediation phase.

The consultation sets out proposals for revalidating dentists. It takes into account the findings of an earlier consultation, research and pilots carried out in 2009. The GDC expects further piloting and consultation exercises in 2011 and 2012. More information can be found on the GDC website at www.gdc-uk.org