How to review a dental PDP with your team
Make a dental PDP review useful: agree a personal learning need, suitable support and a clear next step while preserving professional responsibility.
Published by Dr Sim Raiyat
Clinical Director, Dentorb — Private General Dentist
A useful personal development plan, or PDP, explains what someone wants or needs to improve, how they will learn and how they will reflect on the result. A review keeps that plan relevant. It should be a conversation about development, not a race to fill a course list.
For GDC registrants, the professional remains responsible for their own development. A practice manager can help arrange time, learning and support without taking over those decisions. The GDC's PDP guidance encourages a plan tailored to the person's role and development needs.
Before the meeting: choose a useful starting point
Ask the person to consider a task they want to do better, a change in their role, feedback or a gap they have noticed. Invite them to bring a relevant goal and any progress since the previous discussion.
The manager brings agreed support actions: time promised, funding decisions and learning access. Avoid asking for every private reflection merely to prove that preparation happened.
For England, CQC says a PDP is personal and an inspector would not normally need to examine it. A provider still needs appropriate assurance that team members keep their practice up to date. Read CQC's explanation.
Start with the need, then choose the activity
“Do a communication course” names an activity before explaining the problem. “Make operational handovers clearer so the next colleague can continue the task” identifies something the person can work on.
| Review question | Useful record |
|---|---|
| What needs to develop? | A clear skill, knowledge or behaviour |
| Why does it matter in this person's work? | Relevant role, change, feedback or learning need |
| What learning could help? | Suitable activity and the person's reason for choosing it |
| What support is needed? | Time, access, funding or appropriate supervision |
| When will progress be discussed? | A practical review point, with dependencies |
| What changed after learning? | Reflection and the next development decision |
Where an activity is intended as verifiable continuing professional development (CPD), check its suitability and evidence before booking. The CPD evidence guide covers what to keep after learning.
Worked example: turn a broad goal into a plan
Illustrative example: a dental team member finds it difficult to hand over unfinished operational work. Their original goal is “improve communication”. They want another colleague to understand the next action without repeating the whole conversation.
They choose relevant learning and agree to practise a short handover structure. The manager arranges protected time and an appropriate colleague to discuss a synthetic example. At the review, the person considers what became clearer and what still feels difficult.
The review does not declare clinical competence or award CPD hours merely because a meeting took place. If any learning is claimed as CPD, the registrant checks the scheme requirements separately.
Keep the learner's action and the practice's action separate
| Action | Owner | What shows progress? |
|---|---|---|
| Choose relevant learning | Professional | A reasoned learning choice |
| Confirm agreed study time | Manager | Time arranged or a dependency recorded |
| Complete the activity | Professional | Appropriate activity record and evidence |
| Review application | Professional, with suitable support | Reflection and any further development need |
If the practice has not arranged promised support, record that honestly. Do not label the individual's goal “failed” when an unresolved practice action is preventing progress.
Review what did not work
Learning may not address the original need. A course may be unavailable, the person's duties may change or another form of support may help more. Keep the reason for revising the plan and agree a new next step.
The GDC recording guidance connects the PDP with an activity log, evidence and reflection. A completed-hours total does not explain those connections on its own.
Keep personal reflection and practice reporting proportionate. A manager may need to know that an agreed support action or learning requirement is addressed without needing unrestricted access to the person's entire learning history.
Use software to support the conversation
Dentorb's PDP area describes goals, linked learning and requests. Its meetings area describes review records. Test a changed goal and an unapproved course request; check that “requested”, “approved” and “completed” remain different states.
Keep the practice's role-based training matrix separate where it answers a different management question. Some learning can connect to both records, but the manager's general course list should not become everyone's personal plan.
Finish by asking each person to describe their next action. Record the support, owner and next review point. That gives the PDP a place in everyday development rather than leaving it untouched until the next appraisal.
