eGDCGDC publishes dental care professionals’ working patterns data
We have today published data about the working patterns of dental care professionals (DCPs).
This follows the dentists’ working pattern data released in March and is part of our commitment to play our part in supporting the sector to better understand the workforce challenges and illuminate the public debate on the dental workforce.
We worked with stakeholders to understand the workforce information that would be of value to them. As a result of the feedback, we asked a small number of additional voluntary questions, as part of the DCP annual renewal process.
Almost 44,000 DCPs responded to the working patterns questions, and the data published today includes information on the proportion of DCPs 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.
Key highlights show that of the responding DCPs:
- The majority (86%) were doing some clinical work (fully clinical 47%, predominantly clinical 18%, mix of clinical and non-clinical 22%).
- Four-fifths (80%) were employed and 14% were self-employed. However, this varied significantly by DCP title. Around two-thirds of dental therapists (63%) and dental hygienists (66%) said they were self-employed. Only around a fifth (22%) of clinical dental technicians said they were employed, with more than two-fifths (43%) saying that they were business owners/part owners and around a third (34%) saying they were self-employed.
- The vast majority (94%) reported working less than 40 hours per week, with 48% working between 30 and 40 hours and 46% working 30 hours or less.
- Just over a third (35%) said they delivered a ‘mix of NHS and private care’, a quarter (25%) said they were ‘fully private', and one-in-seven (15%) said they were ‘fully NHS’.
- Nearly two-thirds (64%) stated their dental setting was ‘general dental practice’. The next most frequently mentioned setting was ‘specialist dental practice’ (12%).
- More than three-quarters (77%) reported having one place of work. However, this varied significantly by role, with 81% of dental nurses working in one place, compared to around two-fifths of dental hygienists (38%) and dental therapists (39%).
The data can be viewed by individual professional title and at individual country level, to support workforce planning discussions across the four nations. We believe that having a better understanding of how dental professionals are working throughout the UK will provide important insight into some of the issues that affect access to dental services for patients.
As the working pattern insights vary significantly by profession title, we are encouraging interested parties to review the data in detail on our website.
Stefan Czerniawski, Executive Director, Strategy, said:
“We now know more about the working patterns of dental professionals than ever before. For the first time, there is now a rich picture of where dental professionals 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 all the DCPs whose data allowed us to build up this picture, and all the organisations who encouraged participation. This additional data provides a firm foundation for better understanding how dental professionals are working across the UK. We are confident that these insights will support strategic planning and decision-making by health services, governments and dental providers, ultimately helping patients receive the care they need.”
We plan to publish further data based on the working patterns for dentists and DCPs, which will provide new insights across the whole dental team that we hope will further inform workforce discussions.