Refugee Dentist Steering Group. 2 October Minutes

Transcription

1 RDSG Refugee Dentist Steering Group 2 October 2007 Minutes Minutes of a meeting of the Refugee Dentist Steering Group held at the BDA. Present: Peter Lowndes and Anwar Tappuni (Joint Chair) Anwar Tappuni Peter Lowndes Maha Atia Rosmin Majid Amit Bose Iain Corran Natasha David Myrtha Waite Margaret Wilson James Paddick Ross Scales Luisa Ares Rebecca Terry Ulrike Matthesius Judith Husband Migrant & Refugee Communities Forum & (MRCF) Kings College London BDA Refugees into Jobs (RIJ) National Advice Centre for Postgraduate (NACPDE) Dental Education Department of Health (DH) Genesis Migrant & Refugee Communities Forum (MRCF) Council for Assisting Refugee Academics (CARA) National Advice Centre for Postgraduate (NACPDE) Dental Education General Dental Council General Dental Council Refugee Assessment & Guidance Unit British Dental Association British Dental Association British Dental Association (GDC) (GDC) (RAGU) 1

2 1. Chair s Report The Chair for the meeting, A Tappuni, welcomed members and outlined the agenda for the meeting. 2. Apologies J Lee, Raj Rattan, L Isaksen, B Roberts, J Waterfield, D Cliff, L Walsh, Z Siddiqui. 3. Minutes of meeting held 2 May 2007 The minutes were accepted with the following amendments: Page 6: I Corran suggested Dental Direct or the GDC charitable fund be approached for support, not the Resident Dentists Group. 4. Matters arising M Wilson reported back on the project she coordinated which offered temporary registration with the GDC for up to six months in primary care for overseasqualified dentists studying for the IQE part C. The project was very successful and a write up of the project was recently published in the British Dental Journal (Volume 203, no 5, Sept ). The project was initially intended to enable dentists to gain practical experience of working on patients for the patient aspect of IQE C. Now the new ORE exam has started and there is no patient contact the need for that experience has now ended. A Tappuni queried if the programme could be modified to enable us to assist overseas-qualified dentists who have passed IQE/ORE and need help with gaining experience for VT equivalency. M Wilson explained that the PCT s are not engaging or interested as they already have European Union dentists. M Wilson had contacted PCTs in areas where there were shortages of dentists but had received only one positive response. A Tappuni commented that a lot of work has been done already to take this forward and highlighted the need to keep the momentum going and think about how to move this forward to help overseas dentists gain VT equivalence. M Wilson will wait until the new ORE has settled before working on a new strategy for temporary registration. The RDSG offered to help if needed. 5. Update on the IQE/ORE R Scales updated the group on the IQE/ORE. IQE A is nearly completed with 20 candidates sitting in January IQE B has 156 candidates to sit and IQE C 2

3 has 256 candidates to sit. It is very difficult to get exam sittings for IQE C because of the need for patients etc. The GDC is hoping to finish the IQE within the next year. The GDC are pleased with the transition to the ORE and hope there won t be so much of a bottle neck with the ORE, although this will lead to more dentists on the market each year. 167 candidates sat ORE part 1 in September and the results have been sent out to candidates. A Tappuni queried whether the GDC would be looking to candidates for feedback and if there would be a review of the recent examination process. R Scales explained that the GDC do seek feedback from candidates and there is a great deal of statistical analysis and reporting. In future, this information will be published on the website, with the intention of being open and transparent about their processes and results. N David has been speaking with refugee s who would like to write to the GDC to express their concerns over the exam and any suggestions for improvement. She queried if the examinations would be re-marked at a candidates request. In response, R Scales explained that all questions have been checked by internal and external examinators, to ensure accuracy and consistency of questions and that all papers were electronically marked. There will however be a complaints and suggestions form available on the website. R Scales also reported that they would be putting the pass mark of the exam on the website within a couple of weeks and would let individual candidates know their mark if they contacted the GDC directly. The GDC would also review with the exam board whether they could let candidates know the pass mark before each exam and how much each question was worth. J Paddick explained that through the feedback they had received from candidates, it appeared that the main issue with the exam was the way questions were worded, not the content. The GDC will be posting sample exam questions on their website to enable candidates to become more familiar with the types of questions they will be asked. J Husband raised the issue of piloting for part two of the exam and queried if the GDC would be using experienced clinicians as suggested in our consultation review response. J Paddick advised that part two will be piloted with dental students and internal examiners in November These statistics can be reported on and the information shared. 6. Potential Funding, VT and Equivalence 3

4 J Husband attended a meeting with B Cockroft regarding funding. B Cockroft advised there is no funding available and cited the workforce issue as the reason. He suggested we contact Sarinder Sharmer the Director of Equality and Diversity to ask for assistance. ACTION: J Husband to follow up. The Group discussed other options for funding, including approaching the NHS Chief Executive and Department of Health. A Bose advised that he and Jerry Read from the DH are having a meeting on 10 October with MRCF, Genesis and others to discuss general support for overseas-qualified dentists and funding. It was suggested that P Lowndes report back to the Representative Body in January and J Husband suggested including the draft article from the BDA news. ACTION. 7. Assisting Refugee s in the re-qualifying process M Waite from CARA (Council for Assisting Refugee Academics) attended the meeting to advise the Group how CARA can assist refugees. CARA provides funding to refugee academics to assist them with support to continue their profession. To qualify for assistance, candidates are required to have refugee status in the UK, have worked in dentistry and have some experience working as an academic in their home country. CARA provides funding for preparation of courses, exams and registration fees. M Waite noted that there is no average amount for grants and CARA aim to support beneficiaries in the long-term. CARA have a grants round in February and August each year. The call for funding is made two months before. M Waite explained that there are challenges for the refugee s to face, as many of the dentists are finding that VT is not the right path for them. Often they are looking for more senior positions, which are difficult to obtain due to a lack of clinical experience while working in an academic role. Another challenge was deciding what courses to send their candidates to as most courses are not regulated. N David agreed that it can be difficult finding good courses, however the MRCF have a list of courses they have found useful and will forward this information to M Waite. ACTION. M Wilson queried the amount of academic experience the candidates require to receive assistance from CARA. M Waite explained that they assist candidates with experience ranging from one or two years to senior academics. They are required to provide evidence they have substantial academic experience. 4

5 8. Barriers to Practice U Matthesius explained that there are a finite number of VT places each year that are funded by the Department of Health. Competition remains high and overseasqualified dentist s who don t have the right to work in the UK are finding it more difficult. A Bose said there is work going on right now with the deanery and the Department of Health. Deaneries are working to streamline the VT Equivalency process and agree a standard model. M Wilson advised the Group to check the London Deanery website as there is information on equivalence and what information is required at each stage in the process. N David agreed that members are finding it very difficult to secure VT places, with only five of their members securing a VT post during members had applied for VT equivalency with only 3 granted, the rest had to find experience of between 3-12 months. P Lowndes suggested that we try to stay in contact with the R&R Advisers to take this forward. ACTION P Lowndes to contact the chair of the R&R Advisers group and attend one of their meetings to discuss. 9. Dentistry: The way forward J Husband reported that statistics on the effects of the new contract have proven difficult to find and the way they were collected and researched has recently altered. UDA s that have previously been commissioned at a lower level than usual are now increasing. Dental care provided is between 95 96% of what was provided under the old system. These statistics include those dentists that have under performed and some over performers. There are significant variations across the country, particularly around the reactions of the PCT s, which appear inconsistent. Unfortunately, we have not been seeing an increase in patients accessing NHS dentistry as we had hoped. We had put forward an information request on the management of the contracts. This request was refused so this will be taken forward to the commissioner. The BDA is working on an advice sheet for those starting up a new practice. This will focus on understanding and implementing UDA s and other aspects of the new contract. The Group requested that this item stay on the agenda each month. ACTION. 5

6 10. IQE Member Services for Overseas Dentists J Husband introduced a report titled: Young Member Participation and Engagement: Exploring the Needs for Today and Tomorrow. This study was undertaken to determine young members attitudes, needs and expectations through a series of focus groups and a questionnaire survey to 4500 young BDA members up to 35 years of age in England, Scotland and Wales. Some of the individuals that completed this survey were overseas dentists sitting the Independent Qualifying Exam (IQE). J Husband asked for the group to her with any comments or suggestions for further work. The recommendations section on page 23 will be followed up and actioned by the new Membership Director. One comment that came through from the overseas dentists was that they only joined the BDA after passing their IQE and this poses the question: could we be offering more support to this group? M Atia commented that the RIJ do encourage their members to join the BDA and offer them financial support for their membership fees but has noted that a number of them are still reluctant to join. This item will be removed from the agenda for future meetings. 11. Projects for Refugees and Overseas Dentists I Corran (Genesis) provided an update on supporting overseas-qualified dentists through VT Equivalency. They have been successful in satisfying the Deanery s educational plan and getting some dentists onto the performers list. Genesis are getting additional capacity at the moment but it is patchy around the country. Genesis have been working with MRCF and receiving CV s of their members. M Atia (RIJ) supports refugee dentists through a project that is ongoing until March 2008, and covering 9 boroughs in London now. RIJ will discuss how they can cooperate more with MRCF. N David (MRCF) provided an update on their project supporting overseasqualified dentists. They are still getting new members and currently have 1,723 members, 108 of whom are refugees. 33 refugees have completed IQE and 19 are working. A small proportion no longer wishes to get back into dentistry. MRCF s funding situation is very difficult, and they are trying to create a bit of momentum about this and have written a short summary about the work MRCF do with refugees and overseas health professionals and the numbers they have supported. 6

7 MRCF s project may have to stop in March 2008 due to funding. There will be a huge loss of support for these dentists if this happens. A Tappuni reported that despite major difficulties with funding, the group is still thriving. Lecturers are still turning up on a voluntary basis to teach classes. N David reported on the Building Bridges project which is trying to coordinate a strategic response to support refugee health professionals. Building Bridges will be sending out a consultation later this month to outline the proposals and seek responses. L Ares (RAGU) informed the group that they support refugee professionals and currently offer services on advice and employment support. They will be publishing the results of some research at the end of October and it will be available on their website and the ROSE website. L Ares also publicised an event organised by the PRESTO partnership on 17 October to discuss the Mayor s strategy on refugee integration London Enriched. This event will have a focus on employment, training and enterprise. Anyone interested should contact L Ares. 12. Future objectives and actions All future actions from the meeting are recorded throughout the minutes. 13. Any other business P Lowndes suggested inviting Raj Rayan from the London Deanery to the next meeting. ACTION. N David advised that the NHS Rose website is out of date and requested that everyone update their page of the website and Diana Cliff with the changes on: Diane.cliff@nhsconfed.org 14. Date of next meeting Monday 11 February 2008, at the BDA. 7