1
NHSEducation for Scotland / NES102 West Port
Edinburgh
EH3 9DN
Tel: 01313 656 3231/3232
E-mail:
Applying for a Dental Vocational Training (VT) Number
All dentists who are going to join a Health Board dental list need to have a VT number. This means that any dentist who has joined a Health Board dental list since 1st October 1993, as either a Principal or an Associate, should have a VT number. If a dentist takes early retirement, he/she is required to leave the dental list for one month. Before he/she can return to the dental list, he/she will need to have obtained a VT number.If a dentist ends his/her contract, and then wishes to rejoin the dental list of another Health Board, he/she needs to have a VT number before doing so.
The application for a vocational training number in Scotland is made on the GP21C form, which is available from the Health Board or from the NHS Education for Scotland (NES) website. Part 1 asks for details of the applicant's qualifications and registration with the GDC. Part 2 starts with a declaration that the applicant has applied to be included on a Health Board dental list by submitting a completed form GP21. Before the application goes any further the Dental Vocational Training Secretariat (DVTS) will check that the Health Board has received an application form from the dentist to join their dental list.
1.Applications from Dentists who have Completed Vocational Training
If:
a)a Scottish Vocational Dental Practitioner has satisfactorily completed their VT year during or after 2005 OR
b)an applicant has completed vocational training during or after 2005 in the rest of the UK
then the vocational training certificate of satisfactory completion/completion, or a letter from the Director of Postgraduate General Dental Practice Education or Dean, needs to be submitted with the application. If the original certificate is submitted, it will be returned with the letter awarding a VT number.
If:
c)the applicant has completed VT in Scotland or elsewhere in the UK before June 2005,
then details of all periods of General Dental Practice, the vocational training certificate of completion/satisfactory completion, or a letter from the Director of Postgraduate General Dental Practice Education or Dean, must be submitted with application. If the original certificate is submitted, it will be returned with the letter awarding a VT number.
- Exemption Categories
If a dentist applies for a vocational training number on the grounds that he/she is exempt from the requirement to complete vocational training, he/she will need to provide documentary evidence of the claim.
a)If the applicant is from an EEA Member State (other than the UK) and holds a recognised European Dental Diploma, the Secretariat requires to see a copy of the Diploma, with a translation which has been certified by a Notary Public.
b)If the applicant has had a Health Board/Performer number within the last five years, then the name of the Health Board and the dentist's list number should be given.
c)For those applicants who have practised in primary dental care in the Community Dental Service or the Armed Forces, a letter from the relevant employing authority is required confirming that they have completed four years' full-time (or equivalent part-time) in primary dental care, and that they have practised in primary dental care for not less than four months in full-time employment (or part-time employment of equivalent duration) within the last four years.
d)Applicants who have completed a course of vocational training under the voluntary scheme will need to submit their original vocational training certificate or a letter from their Director of General Dental Practice Education.
e)Equivalence Applications (See Guidance Notes for Applicants via 'Equivalence')
If you have any further questions, please contact Shelagh McLeish or Simon Petrrie at the Dental Vocational Training Secretariat at the above office (tel. 0131 656 3231/3232).