National Health Service (General Dental Services) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2025: equality impact assessment

Mandatory Training

At present dentists who wish to provide NHS dental services in Scotland for the first time, or after a break of 12 months or more (subject to some exceptions), have to complete a course of mandatory training and undertake a test of knowledge before they can join a dental list. The mandatory training courses are currently offered four times per year which can mean a dentist may have to wait for several months before they can undertake the mandatory training. This can result in dentists choosing not to work in Scotland at all or choosing to only provide private dental services. Therefore, in order to improve access to NHS dental services, whilst also maintaining appropriate oversight and governance of dentists joining a dental list in Scotland, this SSI will make changes to the requirements in place for mandatory training to allow a dentist to join a dental list on a provisional basis for a period of up to 6 months.

This is a change which will primarily affect dentists who wish to provide NHS general dental services in Scotland for the first time, or after a break of 12 months or more, by allowing them to join a dental list on a provisional basis and start providing NHS dental services sooner than they would otherwise have been able. The changes to mandatory training will not affect the majority of practices, but it may have some benefit in areas with lower level of recruitment, e.g. rural areas, as practices will not need to wait for several months for the dentist to complete mandatory training before they are able to provide NHS general dental services, which could potentially help improve access to NHS services for patients in some areas.