Supporting dental registrants in difficulty: the service provided by postgraduate dental education teams

The number of dental registrants in difficulty (DRiDs) has increased significantly in recent years and the General Dental Council or National Health Service organisations tasked with the management of dental services will, if appropriate, instruct the registrant to contact postgraduate dental teams (PgDT) based in regional offices of Health Education England and equivalent postgraduate deaneries in Wales and Scotland for assistance in meeting their conditions for continued registration. We surveyed DRiDs Leads within the PgDT with a view to understanding the current development of this important service. Results revealed that these managers had considerable relevant previous experience which underpinned their responsibility for DRiDs. Their responses indicated that there were notable differences between PgDT in the number of DRiDs seeking their help and that the development of the service and the resources deployed to help DRIDs also differed significantly. Those responsible were generally happy with the service they were providing and all were able to see DRiDs for an initial interview within four weeks of being contacted. However, weaknesses were identified such as insufficient time to support individual registrants, lack of consistent process across PgDT teams and a need for clinical training facilities.