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Compliance of NHS dental practice websites in Wales before and after the introduction ofthe GDC document Principles of ethical advertising
I N B R I E F
Highlights that current compliance with
GDC regulations on advertising is poor.
Reminds registrants that they are
responsible for the accuracy of
information displayed about them on
their practice website.
Encourages registrants to check the
content of their practice website against
the GDC document Principles of ethical
advertising.
RESEARCH
M.L. Budd,1 M. Davies,2 R. Dewhurst3 and P.A. Atkin*4
Objectives To evaluate the compliance of NHS dental practice websites in Wales, UK, with the 2012GDC document Principles of ethical advertising, before its introduction (2011) and again after its introduction (2014). Methods All practicesin Wales with an NHS contract and dental practice website were identied. The content of the website was evaluated to determine if it complied with the principles outlined in the 2012GDC document Principles of Ethical Advertising. Results Twenty-ve percent of the 446 practices sampled in 2011had a website, compared to 44% of the 436 practices sampled in 2014.The principles best complied with were; displaying the name, geographic address, and telephone number of the practice (100% for both years). None of the websites compared the qualications or skills of its practitioners to others, therefore 100% complied with this principle. Displaying team members professional qualication and the country from which this is obtained was fairly well represented; 92% and 61% respectively in 2014; an improvement from only 50% and 49% respectively in 2011. Principles worst complied with were displaying the GDCs address (3% 2011; 9% 2014) or link to the GDC website (11% 2011; 7% 2014) and details of the practice complaints procedure (1% 2011; 5% 2014). Overall, no practice complied with all of the compulsory principles. Conclusion In both 2011and 2014no practice website was compliant with all the principles outlined in the 2012GDC document Principles of ethical advertising. Reecting results from previous studies, this study showed that compliance is slowly improving, yet over 4years after the introduction of the mandatory principles, it remains that no practice website is 100% compliant.
INTRODUCTION
The UK General Dental Council (GDC) rst relaxed its absolute restriction on dentists advertising in 1985, followed by more extensive freedom to advertise in 1988. Guidance on advertising...