Press release National Recruitment to Dental Foundation Training 2013
NATIONAL RECRUITMENT TO DENTAL FOUNDATION TRAINING
Process underway for 2013
Applications to National Recruitment for dental foundation year 1 (DF1) training posts in England, Wales and Northern Ireland for 2013 Schemes have now closed. 1172 individuals applied for places and all those eligible will be assessed during November by trained and calibrated dental trainers and educators. Postgraduate Deaneries will allocate successful candidates to training practices in December for year-long posts starting in February 2013, and in the Spring for posts starting next Summer.
1139 applicants, of whom 1026 are students or recent graduates of UK Dental Schools, have been invited to take part in the assessment centres to compete for an estimated 952 funded training posts in NHS practices. Some applicants may also have applied to Scotland where there are further training posts available. Most training posts will start in August or September 2013, with a small number starting in February. This is the second year that COPDEND (The UK Committee of Postgraduate Dental Deans and Directors), working in partnership with London Deanery has organised national recruitment to dental foundation training posts.
All those eligible to start dental foundation training Year 1 next year in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will be invited to take part in a number of selection exercises at one of 6 regional centres (Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, London or Manchester) during late November. Those who are successful will be allocated to Deaneries on merit, based on their selection centre performance and stated preference for training in a particular scheme or area. A training scheme normally comprises 12 training practices and covers a defined geographical area.
A second stage allocation to training practices will be carried out by Postgraduate Deaneries once Trainers and Training Practices have been confirmed. The national process has been developed following several years of piloting centralised recruitment in more than half of UK Deaneries and a national recruitment process to DF1 posts in England and Wales during 2012.
Mr Derek Sprague, Chair of the DF1 National Recruitment Working group said, “We are fortunate once again to have expertise from the London Deanery Recruitment team supporting this exercise and recognise how important it is to have robust processes in place, as there may be more applicants than available funded places.”
Professor Chris Franklin, Chair of COPDEND said “We are building on the process we introduced last year to ensure applicants have a fair and transparent way to apply for these important training posts and are committed to continuous improvement to make the system as effective as possible. Postgraduate Dental Deans have visited all Dental Schools to explain the process to students and full details are published on our website”
26 October 2012