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Give us a job, say students
23rd Jan 2012
Professor Franklin's throwaway comment that he ‘understands' how unsettling it is for those final year students without a training place, must rank as one of the most patronising remarks of the year.
As is his advice for them to ‘concentrate now on preparing for final examinations'. But not, apparently for work in the NHS, rather for a future of unemployment.
The news from the Committee of Postgraduate Dental Deans & Directors (COPDEND) claims ‘success' in allocating 927 places among the 1,109 candidates who attended for interviews. Of the 182 (16%) with no place, 133 are on a ‘reserve list' who may get a training place. The remaining 49, the output of one UK dental school are thrown on the scrap heap.
Back in 2004, the then government announced that 185 extra dentists would be trained each year. Now that they have qualified, this government is telling 182 of them that there is no job for them in NHS dentistry. At an estimated cost of £250,000 per student, it has cost the UK taxpayer £15.4 million for each dentist joining the NHS.
To make matters worse, hidden in the story, is the fact that 97 of those who applied came from European dental schools. Unlike UK qualified dentists, those from the rest of the EU do not need to do Foundation Training to go on an NHS Performers List.
How many of these 97 displaced students trained at the UK taxpayers' expense is an unknown. But it only adds to the scandal (not the success, Professor Franklin) of ‘new-style dental foundation recruitment'.
It also begs the question of why, if all dental schools in Europe have equivalence, the NHS treats UK students differently in requiring an extra year of Foundation Training from them.
We can also ask why our government does not guarantee sufficient training places for all who qualify from our universities.
Until now, we have gone along on the assumption that the different treatment, as regards Vocational and now Foundation Training is an immutable rule of the European Union (EU).
In a similar way, we have been told that Britain is not free to ban foreign doctors, dentists or nurses from working in this country if they do not speak adequate English nor if there are concerns over their medical ability.
However in a recent Daily Telegraph article, Michel Barnier, EU commissioner for the internal market, says any problems associated with foreign doctors are the responsibility of the NHS. He said it was a ‘myth' that Britain cannot ban EU doctors.
By the same logic it is presumably also a ‘myth' that EU-trained dentists are subject to different rules from those qualified here. It is time that the newly euro-sceptic partners in the coalition took some action to ensure all UK trained dentists can practise in the NHS.
Author
Michael Watson
Since retiring from clinical practice in Essex, Michael has been writing extensively in the dental press. During the last few years of his GDP career he joined the BDA as its political advisor. He played a major role in drafting the conditions for Options for Change in 2002 and the new NHS contract in 2006. He co-authored the book Understanding NHS Dentistry, a guide to the new contract, has edited both the General Dental Practitioner and BDA News and is a regular columnist for many titles, including Dentistry.
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