Practising Location of Dentists

Objectives: To analyse the composition of the NHS primary care dental workforce, in terms of place and year of qualification, in seven primary care organizations (PCOs) in the West Midlands.

Methods: Using the online UK General Dental Council register, information about place and year of qualification, was collected for each dentist listed on the relevant performers' lists. Comparative analysis was then carried out to investigate differences between PCOs with particular regard to their proximity to Birmingham, the nearest undergraduate teaching provider.

Results: There were 921 dentists included on the selected performers' lists. Birmingham graduates made up the largest proportion of UK graduates in each of the PCOs (range 29.9% to 56.2%) except North Staffordshire (15.6%). The two PCOs with the lowest proportion of Birmingham graduates were Stoke on Trent and North Staffordshire, the two PCOs furthest from Birmingham. In each of the three Staffordshire PCOs over 25% of the primary care dental workforce were overseas graduates. Amongst the three Birmingham PCOs, the proportion of overseas graduates ranged from 13.6% to 20.2%. Solihull Care Trust had just three overseas graduates (3.5%) on its performers' list. For each PCO, a higher proportion of overseas graduates was observed amongst newer graduates.

Conclusion: The composition of the dental workforce varied markedly across the selected PCOs. These data support, to some extent, the theory that graduates tend to practise in close proximity to where they received their primary dental qualification. It is possible however that the picture is changing over time with more overseas graduates joining the performers' lists.