The General Dental Council reports that it received just over 600 responses to its public consultation on “Continuing Professional Development Rules”, which included 39 organisational responses. The consultation responses indicate general support for the GDC’s proposals for an enhanced CPD scheme.

The GDC also received a number of comments related to the following areas:

• Concerns that the proposed approach to transition from the current CPD requirements to an enhanced scheme of CPD may be perceived as complex and confusing, and registrants must be provided with clear information
• A clear need for additional information and detailed guidance for registrants relating to the proposal
• Concerns that registrants would not be able to include CPD undertaken outside the UK or delivered outside of the dental sector
• Continued concerns relating to the quality of CPD provision in dentistry
• Concerns relating to access, availability and costs of CPD activities

The Council states: “The GDC will take the range of comments into account in making a final decision about enhanced CPD, which it anticipates will happen later in 2014. The Council assures all registrants and other stakeholders that they will be given adequate notice of any changes to our requirements for CPD.”

The Council also reiterates its previous call to all those who provide CPD for dental professionals to ensure they “robustly quality assure their CPD products and services” and have effective feedback mechanisms in place.

“Quality control is a current legal requirement for verifiable CPD and members of the dental CPD industry need to proactively work together to develop industry-led quality standards. This will require them to give dental professionals, as CPD consumers, assurances about the products and services provided.”

Very good, CPD should of course be high quality but it also needs to be relevant to the registrant’s job and some mechanism should be in place to verify that people who undertake CPD have understood or even listened to what they have been told.

All registrants are required to complete a set number of CPD hours over a five-year period as part of their registration and failure to do so may see them de-registered. However, although completing CPD is mandated, its provision is not regulated. As a result, registrants are asked by the Council: “As consumers of CPD, to make careful choices when investing time and money in CPD products and services and to obtain advance assurances as to its quality and value for money.”

Parts of this blog are published in the June edition of Dental Practice journal, which reported previously on the urgent call for the establishment of a regulatory body from the more academic providers of CPD.

So who controls the quality and validity of CPD? No-one. Who checks to make sure registrants have understood anything of what they have seen demonstrated in order to collect their verifiable CPD? Precious few.

Is this state of affairs in keeping with the GDC’s latest Standards? Not remotely.

Dental Practice journal and the 2020dentistry.com forum are happy to start a campaign supporting the concept of properly regulated and monitored CPD validated with a pass mark based around a questionnaire, just to prove delegates were awake during the presentation.

What do you think?