Written question WQ92217

Welsh Government works closely with Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW) to create career development opportunities across Wales.

Additional funding has been provided to HEIW to increase the number of specialty training places available by 50%. This is the most significant investment in dental specialty training that Wales has seen. It has enabled the creation of new training posts in both the Community Dental Services and hospital dental services across a number of dental specialties including paediatric dentistry, special care dentistry, oral surgery and orthodontics.

An accreditation scheme for dentists with enhanced skills in oral surgery has also been developed to enable dentists to deliver more complex dental care. This offer creates a career pathway for GDS dentists that is presently limited.

A wide range of continuing professional development is also available to all members of the dental team in Wales. This is deliverable in a variety of modes (including online, face to face, distance and in-practice). It has been designed to meet the regulatory, quality and safety requirements of delivering quality oral heathcare as well as creating education and training opportunities for the workforce.

There are many opportunities for dentists to undertake leadership training and development through HEIW. A dedicated dental leadership hub has been created within the digital leadership platform Gwella with a range of resources and programmes to support development available to dentists and the wider dental team.