Dentist Pathway — Restart Refugee Support

For dentist clients

The Programme is designed to enable refugees, who have the right to remain in the UK, and who possess overseas dental qualifications linked with experience, to requalify and be able to practise in the UK.

Restart Refugee Support and RefuAid the two UK charities who are lending funds to refugees to requalify in the professions, have joined forces in this programme which is designed to maximise the success of its clients who wish to enter the UK profession.

Clients of the programme have to follow the following Pathway to qualify for support, some variation may be considered by the Dental Panel, in special circumstances:

All candidates FOR THE PATHWAY must demonstrate sufficient fluency in English, and for requalification as a Dentist, this involves IELTS qualification, (OET qualification, may be acceptable in the future). Only when English adequacy has been demonstrated will candidates be able to move to the next step.
Before assessment by the Dental Panel, a full CV will be required.
All candidates will then be assessed by our Dental Panel, to confirm that the candidates training and skills will be sufficient to enter the Pathway. If the Panel is of the view that the Pathway is not one they can recommend, the candidate will be offered support (exam Loan) to become a Dental Nurse and a view will also be taken to assist as to the Dental Hygienist route or Practice manager.
Panel review may involve practical tests to include the use of a manikin.
If approved for the Pathway, the applicant, before becoming a client of the Pathway, must:

A. Agree to enter into our standard Loan Agreement, which will cover the financing of LDS1 and 2 for all candidates of the part one of the exam, or at our discretion ORE2 if ORE1 has already been passed, and the cost of equipment to be provided (which will only be added to the Loan , once qualified), nursing qualification cost, plus any travel or other advances made to the client. For the avoidance of doubt, the client is expected become a trainee nurse before any finance will be provided. The Charity will assist if necessary in funding exam costs. The training as a dental nurse will take a minimum of 6 month. The client must also at this time, enter into a training agreement to practice and come in for training sessions, after LDS1/ORE1 have been passed.

B. If the candidate fails LDS1 whilst receiving Restart support, then this pathway is ended but support can be given for the client to follow another direction, such as dental nurse.

C. The client after qualification as a dental nurse, must continue in this occupation whilst training for LDS2/ORE2. This is to ensure the client is fully immersed in clinical environment and procedures in the UK. It is generally expected that qualified dental nursing work will be for at least a year but must be for not less than either 6 months’ work in this capacity or work for that period for a temporary staffing agency work. In either case for not less than 16 hours per week.

D. During training as a Dentist, the Client will be provided with a full training kit, see schedule.

E. The client will be given a mentor to assist and review their training work and must regularly meet with the mentor and take up such additional training the Pathway can provide. This training and practice will be provided whilst “nursing training” is taking place

F. When the client believes they are ready to take LDS2/ORE2, AT A TIME NO EARLIER THAN THE COMPLETION OF C ABOVE, the Panel will decide if in their opinion the client is yet ready to sit the final exam. If approved

G. The exam can be booked. In the unlikely event of failure, finance for one further exam will be considered.

6. At the current time The Pathway is guaranteed places for exams for the Royal College of Surgeons (LDS exams) and we hope to be able to obtain the same availability from the GDC, until such time new Restart applicants will be asked to pursue LDS (with the exception where ORE 1 has already been secured).

7. The Pathway will endeavour to obtain training nurse positions and further training after qualification, to allow the dentist to qualify for NHS work

8. The Client formally agrees to the above Pathway and agrees to the ReStart Privacy Policy which is found here https://www.restartrefugeesupport.org/privacy and agrees to ReStart circulating the applicants contact details to all other dentists on the ReStart Dental Pathway.

9. Please complete the following form to find out if you are eligible:

Name

First Name

Last Name

Email

Mobile Phone Number

Address

Address 1

Address 2

City

State/Province

Zip/Postal Code

Country

When did you recieve Refugee Status

MM

DD

YYYY

County of Origin and Nationality if different.

When did you graduate as a dentist

MM

DD

YYYY

At what stage of requalification are you?

(IELTS, Part 1 or Part 2 Exam)

What types of dentistry have you practiced and feel competent and experienced at, please provide details of the number of years you have worked in each sector

The last time you treated an actual patient for conservative dentistry, a crown preparation for example , date please?

An approximate for the number of clinical hours experience you have?

I agree to the ReStart Dentist Pathway and the sharing of my contact data with others who are or have been on the ReStart Dentist Pathway.