Foreign dentists to be allowed to work in UK without qualification checks
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Foreign dentists are to be allowed to work in the UK without taking an exam to check their qualifications, under Government plans to solve the dental crisis.
Ministers plan to scrap the overseas entrance exam currently required to allow dentists from countries outside of Europe to come and work in Britain.
The plans would mean dentists trained abroad would be able to start work in the NHS without a formal check on the quality of their education, amid fears it will lead to substandard care.
Around four in five NHS dental surgeries are not accepting new patients, which has caused a surge in teeth-related A&E admissions, including among children with tooth decay.
The dentists’ union accused the Government of trying to “a fill a leaky bucket” without addressing the real issues keeping the profession away from NHS work.
The proposals would see foreign dentists start working quicker, with the regulator the General Dental Council (GDC) given new legal powers to provisionally register dentists using its own judgment on their qualifications.
Officials claim this will “ensure patient safety and quality of care are maintained”, while those on the new, provisional register would have to be supervised to work.
Dame Andrea Leadsom, the health minister, said the plan “would abolish red tape that currently prevents fully qualified overseas dentists from working in this country, while ensuring the highest standards of care and patient safety”.
The shortage of NHS dentists led to hundreds of people queuing outside a new practice in Bristol from the early hours of the morning at the start of this month.
It was the first in the city to accept new patients in more than six months and the police were forced to intervene as the practice had to turn patients away.
Patient groups are concerned the plans won’t fix the crisis, particularly if there is no obligation for foreign dentists to do NHS work.
Dennis Reed, director of over-60s campaign group Silver Voices, said: “It is not the number of dentists that’s the issue, it’s the number directly concentrating on NHS work.
“The worst possible outcome of this would be for large numbers of overseas dentists to come over and concentrate on private work.”
‘Worst possible outcome’
The British Dental Association (BDA) said the “recovery plan” was unworthy of the title, and that there was “no evidence” overseas dentists were more willing to do NHS work than those already in the UK.
A record number of dentists are registered to practise with the GDC, the union said, but the number doing NHS work has fallen to 2016 levels because of “tick boxes and targets”.
It said the Department of Health had provided no modelling to back up its claims of “millions” of new appointments, and that there was no plan to increase capacity.
Eddie Crouch, BDA chair, said: “A broken contract is forcing dentists out of the NHS with every day it remains in force.
“Overseas dentists are no more likely to stick with a failed system than their UK colleagues. Ministers need to stop trying to fill a leaky bucket, and actually fix it.”
Currently dentists who qualify outside of the European Economic Area are required to take an exam set by Britain’s dental regulator, the GDC.
Dentists with qualifications from 14 select universities in Australia, South Africa, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and New Zealand are also exempt from the exam, but only if they graduated before 2001.
Health leaders described the UK entrance exams as “red tape” and causing “lengthy delays” in dentists being able to register and start treating Brits.
Dental deserts
It comes a week after the NHS announced its recovery plan to fix so-called dental deserts by giving dentists cash incentives to relocate.
Among the bonuses on offer are £20,000 “golden hello” payments to move to areas without an NHS dentist, as well as up to £50 extra for patients who haven’t had an appointment in two years, with the aim of creating 2.5 million extra appointments.
The minimum cost of an appointment is also set to rise from £23 to £28.
The proposals will be consulted on for three-months before being debated on by MPs in Parliament before any changes come into effect.
Jason Wong, the interim chief dental officer for England, said the “proposals could be another vital step towards transforming NHS dental services to ensure faster access for patients.”
Stefan Czerniawski, a director at the GDC said it was an “exciting opportunity” but added that “we need to take time to get this right”.
