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Workforce recruitment issues

What can the GDC's monthly registrant reports offer strategic dental nurse workforce planning?

British Dental Journal volume 235, pages 402–403 (2023)Cite this article

Key points

  • In July 2023, the number of dental nurses registered with the GDC continues to rise, with an increasing shift back toward the previous 2021 peak.

  • The NHS are set to increase the commissioned training of dental therapists and other clinicians but, at present, are not intending to increase the commissioned training of dental nurses by a corresponding number.

  • The 'crisis' within the dental workforce has the potential to be mitigated through comprehensive and strategic workforce planning.

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References

  1. Evans D, Burns L, Mills I, Bryce M, Hanks S. Recruitment and retention in dentistry in the UK: a scoping review to explore the challenges across the UK, with particular interest in rural and coastal areas. Br Dent J 2023; DOI: 10.1038/s41415-022-5406-0.

  2. Financial Times. Dentists warm of looming recruitment crisis in UK. 2020. Available at https://www.ft.com/content/fca7362c-dee3-4158-8486-88f248f41716 (accessed August 2023).

  3. Dental Nursing. The Recruitment Crisis. 2021. Available at https://www.dental-nursing.co.uk/features/the-recruitment-crisis (accessed August 2023).

  4. General Dental Council. Registration Reports. Available at https://www.gdc-uk.org/about-us/what-we-do/the-registers/registration-reports (accessed August 2023).

  5. Chartered Institute for Personnel Development. Strategic Workforce Planning. Available at https://www.cipd.org/en/knowledge/guides/strategic-workforce-planning/ (accessed August 2023).

  6. Chartered Institute for Personnel Development. Workforce Planning Factsheet. Available at https://www.cipd.org/uk/knowledge/factsheets/workforce-planning-factsheet/#what-is-workforce-planning (accessed August 2023).

  7. UK Government. Securing the future workforce supply: Dental care professional stocktake. 2014. Available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/stocktake-of-the-dental-care-professionals-workforce (accessed August 2023).

  8. Health Education England. The future oral and dental workforce for England: Liberating human resources to serve the population across the life-course. 2019. Available at https://www.hee.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/documents/FDWF%20Report%20-%207th%20March%202019.pdf (accessed August 2023).

  9. Eaton K A. Oral healthcare workforce planning in post-Brexit Britain. Br Dent J 2020; 228: 750-752.

  10. Westgarth G. The dental workforce: An assessment of the recruitment market. BDJ In Pract 2022; 35: 14-15.

  11. British Association of Dental Nurses. Dental Nurse Recruitment and Retention Survey. Available at https://www.badn.org.uk/NewPublic/News/Dental-Nurse-Recruitment-and-Retention-Survey.aspx (accessed August 2023).

  12. Committee of Postgraduate Dental Deans and Directors. Oral Health Educator Conference 1 June 2023: NHS Recovery Plan for NHS Dentistry and Its Implications. 2023.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Reader (Associate Professor) and Director of Advanced and Specialist Healthcare, University of Kent, UK

    Debbie Reed

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  1. Debbie Reed
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Correspondence to Debbie Reed.

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Cite this article

Reed, D. What can the GDC's monthly registrant reports offer strategic dental nurse workforce planning?. Br Dent J 235, 402–403 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41415-023-6277-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41415-023-6277-8

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