European Qualifications (Health and Social Care Professions) (EFTA States) (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020

Baroness Walmsley Excerpts

Monday 16th November 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Walmsley (LD) [V]]

My Lords, my understanding is that these regulations are a tidying-up exercise to continue to recognise existing Swiss and other EFTA health professionals with qualifications after the end of transition this year. This does not address plans for future pathways of recognition. However, I would like to focus on professionals of whom we need more to clear the backlog of treatments—that is, dentists, who are a bit different from other health professionals. Can the Minister confirm that, irrespective of any new agreement made with the European Union, the General Dental Council will be able to continue to recognise the qualifications of all graduates of dental schools within the EEA, without the need for candidates to sit the overseas registration exam?

Can the Minister also tell me what steps have been taken by the General Dental Council to resume overseas registration examinations for non-EEA overseas dentists, which have been halted due to Covid, and ensure a continuing pathway for recruitment of EEA and non-EEA dentists? In light of the backlog of 15 million treatments, surely we need all the dentists we can get.

As the Minister will know, the NHS dental service does not have a registration system like the medical services do. Each course of treatment is a separate contract. Even with the same dentist, there is no obligation for either party to continue the relationship after a course of treatment ends, except to sort out any issues relating to a recent course of treatment. The patient is free to go to another dentist, and the dentist is free to decline further NHS courses of treatment.

The result of the lack of any registration system is that after a course of treatment ends, nobody has any obligation to find another NHS dentist for any patient. This gives NHS patients no security whatever about continuity of treatment, either preventive or responsive. Given that this situation has been made worse by Covid-19, and given the shortage of NHS dentistry in some areas, does the Minister’s department have any plans to ensure we have enough dentists going forward after the end of the transition phase of exit from the EU?