Council questions skills database

The General Dental Council (GDC) of the UK has launched an initiative designed to canvass opinion on what a skills database relating to the dentistry sector should include.

A consultation document outlining plans that will form the basis of a new database of information on dental professionals around the country has been drawn up and interested parties have been invited to submit their responses.

The document has been designed principally to establish whether dentist patients would stand to benefit from having a resource that revealed what additional skills or qualifications a particular practitioner has gained.

Responses relating to the project are to be gathered until early May 2008 by the GDC, which will then consider if and which sorts of information on qualifications or skills might be helpful to the patients of dentists practicing in the UK.

The GDC recently launched a separate consultation aimed at aiding the development of draft guidance that will create new rules relating to what functions dental nurses and technicians should fulfil.