Key dates for upcoming overseas registration exam (ORE) sittings have been released, the General Dental Council (GDC) announced today.
The GDC said it is working with the current providers to increase the capacity of ORE exams in the UK – with plans to further increase capacity in 2025.
There will be an April 2025 sitting of the ORE Part 1, with 600 places available, and three sittings of the ORE Part 2 from January to April 2025, with 144 places on each.
This is in addition to the September 2024 Part 2 sitting, which is fully booked. Booking opens tomorrow (3 September) for the sitting of Part 2 in November.
Sharp rise
Working with the current providers, the GDC says it has tripled the number of places for the ORE Part 1 and will provide an additional sitting of the ORE Part 2, increasing capacity by a third.
Around 30{e60f258f32f4d0090826105a8a8e4487cca35cebb3251bd7e4de0ff6f7e40497} of all dentists on the register qualified outside the UK. Of these, around one third qualified for registration by passing the ORE.
There has been a sharp rise in ORE applications since 2021, with a total of 2,366 applications last year, marking a fourfold increase on the annual average across the previous five years.
There are now more than 4,000 candidates eligible to book a place on the ORE, with demand for places described as ‘extremely high’ by the GDC.
‘Unprecedented demand’ for overseas registration exam
The GDC has also reminded candidates and stakeholders of the fee changes that will come into effect from 1 January 2025. The revised fees will be applied to all ORE sittings and retakes.
Theresa Thorp is executive director of regulation at the GDC. She said: ‘Dentists must be registered with the GDC to practise legally in the UK, and one of the most important things we do is to ensure that dentists added to the register meet the required standards for them to provide safe and effective dental care.
‘Addressing the unprecedented demand for ORE places requires a complex combination of legislative, contractual and operational changes, so we cannot get there in a single step. We very much want to increase the capacity of the ORE and these additional exam sittings for 2025 will help, with further plans in place to increase capacity next year.’
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