The General Dental Council has published new guidance for local Practitioner Advice and Support Schemes. The guidance aims to support existing schemes and offers advice to anyone who wants to set up a new scheme in their area.

Practitioner Advice and Support Schemes are voluntary schemes, organised and run by local clinicians, which are designed to detect and address problems of poor professional performance in dentists. They give dentists support and advice, and play an important role in patient protection by helping to resolve performance issues at an early stage.

The GDC's new guidance describes the respective roles of the GDC and Practitioner Advice and Support Schemes and provides a model scheme, based on examples of best practice, that anyone who is setting up a new scheme can use.

The GDC believes that although Practitioner Advice and Support Schemes are currently aimed at dentists, they could be extended to cover professionals complementary to dentistry (PCDs) in the future, following the forthcoming launch of PCD registration.

It is currently working towards a system for recognising those schemes which comply with the new guidance and intends to publish full details of this as soon as they are finalised.

The guidance, 'Our Guide to Local Practitioner Advice and Support Schemes' is available from the GDC website at http://www.gdc-uk.org.