GDC publishes dental workforce pattern data

We have today published data about the working patterns of dentists.  

This work follows the commitment last year to play our part in supporting the sector to better understand its workforce challenges and illuminate the public debate on the dental workforce.   

Our research has already shown that the dental workforce was under pressure and patients' access to NHS dentistry was affected.  

We worked with stakeholders to understand the workforce information that would be of value to them. As a result of the feedback, the GDC asked a small number of additional voluntary questions, as part of the dentist annual renewal process.   

As part of their annual renewal, 25,159 (57%) dentists responded to the work patterns survey, of which 24,152 (55%) were working in the UK dental sector.   

The key highlights show that of the responding dentists:  

• 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 data, published today, includes information on the proportion of dentists who are providing NHS care and private care, whether they are working in clinical or non-clinical roles, and how many hours they are working.  

The information is from data collected from dentists only. A similar exercise to collect work pattern data for dental care professionals (DCPs) is planned as part of the DCP annual renewal process later this year.  

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. Further analyses, including a more detailed picture of where dentists work, will be published later in the year. 

We believe 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.   

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. 

“Later this year, we will invite dental care professionals to provide their data when they renew their registration, giving us a complete picture for the whole dental team.”