The government has published a white paper on how to regulate health professionals and ensure patient safety in the UK. As part of this, all health professionals will be required to prove their fitness to practice every five years.

Some of the main proposals in Trust, Assurance and Safety, The Regulation of Health Professionals in the 21st Century, are that professional regulators will be independent of government and led by an equal partnership of independently appointed professionals and members of the public, all health professionals will be required to demonstrate periodically that they are fit to practise by revalidating their professional registration and a move from the criminal standard of proof to the civil standard with a sliding scale in fitness to practice cases.

The General Dental Council (GDC) has welcomed the white paper and intends to consider the proposals in more detail, such as looking at how a smaller Council can effectively regulate all groups of dental professionals across the UK and introducing an appointments system for all Council members.

However the British Dental Association (BDA) is concerned that two changes to the membership of the GDC – the loss of the professional majority and the appointment, rather than election, of members – may undermine the profession's confidence in the system.