The General Dental Council is looking for views on its draft guidance for registrants concerning their responsibilities when acting in a business capacity.
The guidance, Principles of management responsibility, will apply to any registrant who has a management role, whether that is for a dental body corporate, a primary care trust, a dental practice, a dental laboratory or elsewhere.
Since the opening of the new Dental Care Professional (DCP) Register in July 2006, GDC-registered DCPs have been able to ‘carry on the business of dentistry’, meaning they are legally able to own their own practices, go into partnerships with each other or dentists, and employ other members of the dental team.
In July 2006 there were also changes to the Dentists Act which removed the limit on the number of dental bodies corporate which can exist. Any dental practice or group of practices can now become a corporate body.
The consultation document is available on the GDC website at www.gdc-uk.org. The closing date for responses is 14 September 2007.