General Dental Council issues CPD reminder

The General Dental Council (GDC) has reminded dental care professionals of the importance of monitoring their continuing professional development (CPD) hours.

With the compulsory CPD programme running in five-year periods, more than 43,000 registrants are due to end their cycle in 2013.

However, the GCD revealed that 19 per cent of these professionals have currently not declared any hours and 33 per cent have submitted hours for their first year only.

It warned registrants that failure to meet the 150-hour requirement is likely to result in people being removed from the council's register and left unable to practise at the end of their cycle.

Registrants can make their end-of-year declaration by logging on to the dedicated eGDC website, which also allows dental professionals to pay annual retention fees and change their contact details.

Any activity that contributes to the development of dentists and dental care professionals is classed as CPD. The process was made compulsory for all people working in the dental profession in August 2008.