The General Dental Council requires all registered Dentists to complete and record 250 hours of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) in every five year cycle.  75 of these hours must be verifiable (ie: 15 hours per year).

To count as verifiable CPD, activities must meet the following educational criteria:

• Concise educational aims and objectives – the activity should have a clear purpose or goal.
• Clear anticipated outcomes – you should know what you can expect to gain as a result of taking part in the activity.
• Quality control – you should have an opportunity to comment, with a view to improving quality.

In order to comply with the GDC requirements with regard to courses provided by the Agency, it is important that practitioners verify their attendance at courses and lectures by completing the course evaluation.  This will enable attendances to be recorded on the postgraduate database from which a printout may be obtained.

All dentists are required to keep a record of their own CPD in a format that can be sent to the GDC.  The GDC will randomly select Deach year and ask them to produce their CPD records which should include both verifiable and general CPD.

More information on verifiable and general CPD is available from the GDC website at www.gdc-uk.org or from the CPD information line on 0207 887 3838 or e-mail recertification@gdc-uk.org