MDDUS is reminding dentists that they will be required to complete a personal development plan as part of the new enhanced continuing professional development scheme (ECPD) announced by the General Dental Council.
MDDUS Head of Dental Division Aubrey Craig commented: "We welcome this move as the first step in a long-term reform programme that aims to focus on the quality of CPD rather than quantity. Dentists and dental care professionals should be aware of these important and significant changes in dental regulation."
It follows a pilot scheme last year involving more than 1,700 registrants across the UK, with changes coming into effect from January 2018 for dentists and August 2018 for dental care professionals.
"Registrants will identify their CPD needs using a personal development plan," said Craig. "This can be informed in a variety of ways such as employee appraisal, work with colleagues or via patient feedback, complaints, audit and significant event analysis.
"The registrant would then carry out CPD that best suits their development needs followed by a period of reflection to evaluate its impact."
MDDUS senior risk adviser Liz Price said: "MDDUS members can log into our new website to access a wide range of risk management resources, including CPD-verifiable modules, video presentations, online learning tools and webinars.
"Our training and CPD team also provide face-to-face training to help members reduce risk and improve patient safety in their daily practice. "We help inform and educate our members of common areas of legal, regulatory and clinical risk. Members can achieve verifiable CPD with our online courses that focus on dento-legal risk areas including consent, record keeping and complaints handling."
All dentists will move onto the enhanced CPD scheme in January 2018. Arrangements will be made to transition those who are mid-cycle in the current scheme, with guidance due to be issued in the autumn.
Under the new five-year ECPD cycle, dentists will have to complete 100 hours of verifiable CPD, with 75 hours for hygienists, dental therapists, clinical dental technicians and orthodontic therapists and 50 hours for dental nurses and dental technicians. Evidence of general (non-verifiable) CPD will no longer be required but annual activity should still be declared.
Previously, dentists were asked to complete 250 hours of CPD every five years, 75 hours of which had to be verifiable.
The MDDUS training and CPD page can be found here. For further details email risk@mddus.com. Find out more about the enhanced CPD on the GDC website.
This page was correct at the time of publication. Any guidance is intended as general guidance for members only. If you are a member and need specific advice relating to your own circumstances, please contact one of our advisers.