Last week, the GDC released the new ARF levels for dentists and dental care professionals in 2023.
The GDC’s announcement that the fee will increase for dentists was met with frustration from the profession.
The organisation announced the fee will be £690 for dentists – an increase of 1.5% – and £114 for dental care professionals.
We asked the profession to share their views on the latest announcement.
‘Nothing but hassle’
James O’Donnell is a dentist based in Edinburgh, Scotland. He told Dentistry.co.uk: ‘What do dentists or nurses get for their ARF payments? Nothing but hassle.
‘I qualified in 1967 when GDC was a fine organisation. because it was always headed by an experienced dental surgeon.
‘When that ended, we had a motley crew of pencil pushers, boldly claiming that they knew nothing of dentistry but had a history of compliance.
‘The dentists should rise up and fund legal action against them, asserting our right to have a dentist, with considerable experience of general practice, as our chairman or chairlady (the chair is the four legged, piece of furniture that you sit on)!
‘This is very important. Witness the large number of excellent dentists, put under considerable stress, worrying about being ‘taken to court’ (see recent BDA survey).
‘I know, because one of our excellent dental surgeons, loved by his patients and colleagues and with post graduate qualifications, gave up dentistry and an excellent income, because his life was tortured with fears of action by GDC against him. Although none actually materialised.’
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Disappointment
Shabir Jagani added: ‘[I’m] really disappointed to say the least.
‘We are a fully private practice and have decided not to increase our fees in view of the struggles everybody is having. Caring and compassion comes into this decision!’
Dental business coach Alun Rees said latest GDC numbers in special care and paediatric dentistry ‘struggle to keep pace with need’.
‘I’m not a statistician and have limited skills at workforce planning,’ he said.
‘I regularly look at the GDC reports on registrant number and wonder about the implications of the data without the benefit of serious analysis.
‘I compared October 2019 with October 2022. The period includes the pandemic, and I don’t know what real effect that may have had on numbers.
‘There are currently 43,944 registered dentists, an increase of 1555 or 3.7%. 49.1% are under 50 compared with 49.5% in 2019. The figures for the 41-60 cohort are 43.05% now and 42.96% then.
‘Unfortunately we do not know what these people do all day. The (NHS) analysis of restorations on a tooth by tooth basis was swept away in 2006. There is little or no analysis of private courses of treatment as far as I am aware.
‘What, to this interested observer, looks like a significant increase in (adult) orthodontic provision is not reflected in the number of specialists, up from 1377 to 1387. I would be interested to see numbers from the aligner manufacture and supply industry. I believe here is where much of the growth has been.’
Sting in the tail
He added: ‘The “Cinderella” specialties special care dentistry (down by 20 to 280) and paediatric dentistry (up by five to 243) continue to struggle to keep pace with need.
‘What of DCPs? The total numbers have risen and there are now 70,453, up from 69,711. Registered orthodontic therapists has increased by nearly 32% to 909, hygienist registrants are up by 16% to 8,697 and dental therapist numbers have risen by more than 37% to 4,906.
‘The sting in the tail is that the number of registered dental nurses has not kept pace. An increase of less than 1% suggests that many have left. Replaced by what? Trainees? Unregistered staff?’
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