Following public consultation the GDC has agreed that all dental care professionals (DCPs) will be required to complete and record 150 hours of continuing professional development (CPD) every five years, a third of which should be verifiable (50 hours).

The Council expects to introduce the requirement from July 2008 when registration will become compulsory for dental nurses and technicians.

Dental care professionals will be required to complete CPD in the same core subjects as dentists which are medical emergencies (ten hours per cycle), disinfection and decontamination and radiography and radiation protection (both five hours per cycle).

Dental technicians should substitute radiography and radiation protection for materials and equipment (five hours per cycle) as radiography is not within the dental technician curriculum.

In line with the CPD scheme for dentists, the GDC is recommending that DCPs involved in the care of patients should undertake CPD in legal and ethical issues and complaints handling.

Duncan Rudkin, Chief Executive and Registrar, said, ‘The CPD hours requirement is lower for dental care professionals than for dentists as CPD provision is still developing for these groups. We would like to see greater availability of training courses for dental care professionals and hope the introduction of compulsory CPD will drive this provision.’ Further information about CPD for DCPs is available on the GDC website at www.gdc-uk.org.