“A horse is a quadruped, and quadruped's Latin for beast, as everybody that's gone through grammar knows, or else what's the use in having grammars at all?” This is just one of the many quotable lines delivered by the brutal comic monster Mr Wackford Squeers from Charles Dickens’ novel Nicholas Nickleby.

The headmaster of Dotheboys’ Hall was created to highlight everything most parlous about the Victorian education system when it goes bad. He represents a teaching system all too often based on ignorance, greed and a hellish disregard for everything fine and upstanding. What he taught had little relevance to the truth, little value to his students and even less to do with preparing the poor boys in his care for anything other than the most menial career, but Squeers carefully lined his pockets for the future. According to the latest research Squeers would be perfect as a modern-day provider of CPD.

At a recent presentation hosted by Evlynne Gilvarry, GDC Chief Executive and Registrar, the senior researcher with ICF GHK Ltd, Michael Lawrie, talked about the findings of his rapid industry assessment of CPD, undertaken for the GDC’s planned CPD review. This research was designed to “quantify CPD beyond the anecdotal”. It certainly did that. I’d like to look at some of those findings.

Lawrie estimates that the CPD marketplace is worth about £57million per annum across 500 providers. There was a spike in the number of providers six to 10 years ago when CPD became mandatory, first for dentists in 2002 and DCPs in 2008. I expect nothing except gasps of surprise at that one. What did the man say in the film Field of Dreams “Build it and they will come.” In other words create a need and people will rush in to service it, especially when there’s money to be made.

However, what sorts of providers were turned up in the CPD soil? Wouldn’t it make sense to ensure the people who provide Continuous Professional Development actually produce courses and outcomes that “maintain the skills needed to maintain the best patient care”? CPD is compulsory so its provision must be regulated and properly accredited, mustn’t it?

Not according to ICF GHK Ltd. The stats are alarming: 38% of providers deliver neither core nor recommended CPD, Lawrie offered advice that there should be a study to find out just what it is they are providing. Although some 45% of providers offer verifiable CPD not all of it has a pass mark. This means the DCP has a certificate for just turning up and no proof that they actually learned anything on the day.

The GDC itself seems confused by what verifiable CPD actually entails, it calls for high levels of learning outcomes without specifying the need for evidence the practitioner has completed the activity/understood the course content/retained any relevant information/not fallen asleep five minutes after the presentation began.

In fact large sections of providers don’t offer any accredited CPD at all and only about half of them are registered with the GDC and a quarter are nothing to do with the GDC at all.

Even though doing it is a requirement of registration the provision of CPD in the dental field is completely unregulated, and some of what is provided is shamefully inadequate. Only 15 of the providers contacted (a mere 2.7% of the total) specialised in the provision of CPD to technicians, however that’s better than the situation for CDTs and orthodontic therapists whose provision flat-lined. There is a sore need for regulation, but from where?

What do you think?