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Workforce recruitment issues

Oral and dental healthcare team workforce recruitment

British Dental Journal volume 235, page 399 (2023)Cite this article

Key points

  • We lack basic information about the dental workforce in the UK.

  • But we do know that general dental practices are struggling to recruit staff, with the problem much more acute for those focused on NHS care.

  • The government has developed an NHS workforce plan but recruiting staff won't fix our problems without addressing major retention issues.

We've heard a lot since the pandemic about the difficulties patients have faced in accessing oral healthcare, and NHS dentistry in particular. To be fair, this was a problem brewing before 2020, but the recent access crisis has led to a widespread debate about the workforce in dentistry and whether we have enough professionals to meet the care needs of our population.

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References

  1. General Dental Council. Registration Statistical Report. 2022. Available at https://www.gdc-uk.org/docs/default-source/annual-reports/gdc_registration-statistical-report-22-23-v3_a.pdf (accessed August 2023).

  2. Prime Minster's Questions. 8 March 2023, c295. 2023.

  3. NHS Digital. NHS Dental Statistics. Available at https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-dental-statistics (accessed August 2023).

  4. UK Parliament. NHS dentistry. 2023. Available at https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5803/cmselect/cmhealth/964/report.html (accessed August 2023).

  5. NHS England. NHS Long Term Workforce Plan. 2023. Available at https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/accessible-nhs-long-term-workforce-plan/ (accessed August 2023).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chief Executive, British Dental Association, UK

    Martin Woodrow

Authors
  1. Martin Woodrow
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Correspondence to Martin Woodrow.

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Cite this article

Woodrow, M. Oral and dental healthcare team workforce recruitment. Br Dent J 235, 399 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41415-023-6275-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41415-023-6275-x

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