Special Care Dentistry ST1

Application Process

NHS England (North West Local Office) is coordinating the national process for recruiting trainees into all StR Special Care Dentistry posts for September 2024 recruitment for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Please see the information below plus the hyperlinks tab for links to further information about the recruitment process.

Post Information

For a list of indicative numbers for this round received for each HEE Local Office/Deanery please visit the following page of our website

https://dental.hee.nhs.uk/dental-trainee-recruitment/dental-specialty-training/special-care-dentistry/vacancies-and-preferencing

Please note that post numbers are subject to change throughout the recruitment round and so you should continue to monitor our web site for latest vacancy information.

Each nation is responsible for agreeing the pay points on their respective Dental Trainee salary scales.  These are subject to change due to national contract renegotiations and annual uplifts.

Applicants should familiarise themselves with the relevant pay circulars when applying for a training position. 

Salaries are not protected and can increase or decrease when moving between nations or into a more senior post (e.g. from Dental Foundation Training to Dental Core Training) 

If there is any uncertainty, applicants should seek support from the local office responsible for the post regarding the starting salary for their position before they apply.

The British Dental Association (BDA) website (link to https://bda.org/) provides a resource of information on pay for dentists in the whole of the UK. Their guidance advises you on any issues you may have such as pay scales, expenses and pay protection, providing you with the detailed support you may need.

The posts declared in national recruitment for commencement in September 2024 will deliver CCST training to the new 2023 GDC approved curricula

Application Process

When applying in this recruitment round applications will be made generally for all available Special Care Dentistry posts across England without applicants needing to select individual HEE Local Offices/Deaneries at the time of application. Preferencing will be made available via Oriel at a later stage of the recruitment round. During preferencing, applicants will have the opportunity to preference all available posts as desired. It will also be possible to opt out of being considered for certain posts.

Applications are equally open to those who may, either from the outset or subsequently, wish to train less than full time or job share.

Please note that there is a strict application policy that applications cannot be accepted after the deadline.

The selection process consists of:

Shortlisting

Shortlisting will be undertaken using verified self-assessment.  Invitation to interview will be based on 3 to 4 applicants per post ratio.

Verified scores will be shared with applicants prior to shortlisting being finalised.  If applicants feel a mistake has been made in the scoring based on the evidence they have already provided, applicants will be able to submit appeals during a 72-hour period which will then be reviewed by an appeals panel whose decision is final.

Interviews                                                                                                

Virtual interview lasting approximately 35 minutes plus waiting room time consisting of a single station

Further details will be made available during the recruitment process.                                                                               

Ranking and Offers

Final selection score and rank will be determined from combining the self-assessment score with the interview score.

Key Dates

• Apply before 4pm on Thursday 1st February 2024.
• Upload self-assessment evidence between 10am UK time on 19th February 2024 and 10am UK Time on 6th March 2024.
• Online interviews are expected to take place on Tuesday 14th May and/or Wednesday 15th May 2024. 

Eligibility Information

Please refer to the person specification, available here – https://dental.hee.nhs.uk/dental-trainee-recruitment/dental-specialty-training/special-care-dentistry and the Dental Recruitment Applicant Handbook available via here – https://www.oriel.nhs.uk/Web/ResourceBank.

The National Certification of Equivalence to Dental Core Training Year 2 Competency

A process has been developed to facilitate applications to Specialty Training posts from individuals who have not followed a standard UK training pathway (Dental Foundation, Dental Core Training).  The process can also be used by applicants for DCT3 posts if they have not already undertaken a DCT2 post. 

A dentist who wishes to apply for Specialty Training is required to demonstrate the competencies acquired at the end of UK Dental Core training year 1 (i.e. outcome 1) at the time of interview and of UK Dental Core training year 2 at the time of post commencement. This is currently the case for all dental specialties. If a dentist has not undergone UK Dental Core Training year 2, they may apply for a Certificate of Equivalence to Dental Core Training Year 2 Competencies. 

If the dentist considers that they have acquired experience and/or training which should be regarded as equivalent to DCT2, they can apply to the Certification of Equivalence to Dental Core Training Year 2 Panel to have this confirmed.  Further information and guidance notes are available here https://www.nes.scot.nhs.uk/our-work/dental-dct2-equivalence/

Please note if an applicant holds a certificate of completion of Dental Core Training which pre-dates June 2017, they will need to apply for a National Certificate of Dental Core Equivalence via the process detailed here: https://www.nes.scot.nhs.uk/our-work/dental-dct2-equivalence/

Fitness to Practice

If you answer “yes” to any of the Fitness to Practise questions, please ensure that you email details to us by no later than the closing date for applications (see Section 2.1 for dates). Please note that answering “yes” to one or more of the Fitness to Practise questions does not necessarily mean your application cannot progress. Emails should be sent to our confidential email address:  fitnesstopractise.nw@hee.nhs.uk 

Enquiries

Applicant guidance and associated information about the recruitment round can be found via the following link https://dental.hee.nhs.uk/dental-trainee-recruitment/dental-specialty-training/special-care-dentistry/special-care-dentistry-overview   

For any queries that cannot be answered by the methods above please contact: england.rdrecruitment.nw@nhs.net