MSP Briefing

Statutory Instrument 2006/1440

Regulation of Dental Care Professionals

Introduction

This briefing sets out UNISON Scotland's position on the introduction of Statutory Instrument 2006/1440 Regulation of Dental Care Professionals (DCPs) which is to be discussed in the Health Committee of the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday, 27 June 2006.

Issues

Registration and regulation of Dental Care Professionals is part of a general drive within the UK and Scotland, to bring health care and social care professionals and support workers under the regulation of their parent professional bodies to enable them to have a recognised framework of qualifications and by registration to enable them to have a professional body that will recognise their achievements.

When the Scottish Executive issued a consultation document in 2004 'Regulation of Health Care Support Staff and Social Care Support Staff in Scotland' UNISON Scotland fully supported the thrust of the proposals, recognising that the highest possible levels of public protection had to remain a priority and that staff, increasingly taking on new roles and responsibilities, must be properly trained within an appropriate career pathway and be subject to proper regulatory arrangements.

UNISON Scotland supports the introduction of SI 2006/1440 as we believe it is essential that Dental Nurses and Dental Technicians are given the protection and recognition for the qualifications and experience they currently have and the opportunity to increase their qualifications to reflect the increased roles and responsibilities they have undertaken. We do not believe that the current system whereby their employer, often a private dentist, certifies their competence is the best way to ensure professionalism. There is no guarantee that the dentist will provide or insist on adequate training as this can be expensive and could lead to a conflict of interest with his or her need to balance costs.

We also believe that the two-year transitional period is a sensible move to allow those staff with practical experience, but not sufficient academic qualifications sufficient time to obtain them.

We are supportive of the stance taken by the General Dental Council over the issue of Clinical Dental Technicians, also known as Denturists. We accept the difficulties over the qualifications of these staff, and indeed, UNISON was for a time in discussions with the Department of Health and the Open University in an attempt to provide a suitable training course for them, although this did not come to fruition. We believe that the Royal College of Surgeons in England is now in discussions with the General Dental Council in an attempt to provide a suitable course of study which would give proper recognition to these staff. We believe that the GDC's proposal to open registration to these staff, once trained, is the only sensible option, and we therefore support their decision not to provide transitional arrangements in this case. We believe that any delay in setting up the register, would be detrimental to the ability of the legal denturists to become registered, once suitable qualifications are identified and provided.

Conclusion

We believe that registration of Dental Nurses and Technicians is long awaited and any delay would be a huge setback for these staff, many of whom are UNISON members. Our members believe they have been held back for over 30 years by their lack of regulation and would be very angry if this process was delayed.

We fully support the current proposals for registration of social care staff being introduced through the Scottish Social Services Council and those for other health care professionals throughout the UK. To reject these proposals in Scotland would be inconsistent with this general trend and would leave our members in an anomalous position, compared with their colleagues in England and Wales.

It would also be a setback for public protection as the public would not be able to be assured of the competence and professionalism of staff treating them.

We strongly urge members of the Health Committee of the Scottish Parliament not to annul the SI at is meeting next Tuesday and to support its introduction.

For further information contact:

Diane Anderson diane.anderson@unison.co.uk

Dave Watson d.watson@unison.co.uk

June 2006

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