GDC Publishes Workforce Data
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- Published: Wednesday, 13 March 2024 15:02
- Written by Peter Ingle
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It seems that when it really wants to, the GDC can deliver large quantities of data within a reasonable time limit. At the 2023 LDC conference, GDC Chair, Lord Harris, floated the idea that questions could be added to the retention fee renewal process for dentists at the end of the year, to try and provide basic data about what the workforce was actually doing.
This followed the recognition, to the bemusement of many, including MP’s taking an interest in the access crisis, that no one had much idea of what sort of work, or how much of it, registrants were carrying out.
The GDC asked the additional questions, as part of the dentist annual renewal process. Presumably due to lack of relevant legislation, this part of the exercise was voluntary.
25,159 dentists responded to the work patterns survey, the vast majority of them working in the UK. This represented a 55% response rate from those working in the UK sector. Those intending to use this data should also be aware that respondents had the opportunity to skip questions, or to select ‘Prefer not to say’.
The GDC has highlighted these results from the responses that it received:
- The majority (85%) spend at least 75% of their time in clinical practice, and a further 10% say they undertake a mix of clinical and non-clinical work
- 19% said they provided only private care, with no NHS, and a further 14% said they predominantly provided private care (over 75% of their time)
- Only 15% are fully NHS, with no private care, and a further 27% said they are predominantly NHS (over 75% of their time)
- 42% said they were working 30 hours a week or less
- 38% regularly work in more than one location
- 9% are working as specialists
The information is from data collected from dentists. A similar exercise to collect work pattern data for DCPs is planned as part of their annual renewal process in the summer.
The GDC say that the data has been published at a UK level and has been broken down to an individual country level, where possible, to support workforce planning discussions across the four nations. They intend to provide further analyses, including a more detailed picture of where dentists work, to be published later in the year.
It is the GDC’s belief that having a better understanding of how dental professionals are working throughout the UK, will provide important insight into the issues affecting dental professionals and patients.
For the GDC, Stefan Czerniawski, Executive Director, Strategy, said:
“We now know more about dentists’ working patterns than ever before. For the first time, there is now a rich picture of where dentists work, the balance between private and NHS practice, and the balance between clinical and non-clinical roles and activities, across the four nations of the UK.
“I would like to thank every one of the 25,159 dentists whose data allowed us to build up this picture and all the organisations who helped us shape the questions and encouraged participation. This new data provides a firm foundation for better understanding how dentists are working across the UK. It provides important insights into the issues affecting dental professionals and patients. We are confident that it will support planning and decision making by health services, governments, dental providers – and of course dental professionals themselves – to help ensure that patients get the care they need.”
There is now a likelihood that given the choice between no data and poor data, that significant decisions may be taken based on a sub 60% response rate. There is no way of knowing if the non-respondents have a similar work pattern. However the GDC’s own research has shown that the longer that registrants are aware of the Council, the lower their opinion of it. This might skew non responders to include a higher proportion of older registrants, who may have very different working patterns. Another factor is that of those that did respond, only 61% were working in General Practice, the location where most UK dental care is delivered.
Meanwhile the GDC remain unable to say when it will have completed the analysis of the causes of death of 16 registrants that occurred during its Fitness to Practice process. This was first promised well over a year ago.
At the GDC all data is equal, but some data is more equal than others
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