Excluded Student Database

Prior to the introduction of the Excluded Student Database there has been no mechanism to ensure that other schools are made aware of students who have been excluded from a school on fitness to practise grounds. Those students may then reapply to other schools. Sharing limited information about these individuals is relevant to decisions at the point of admission to schools and has an essential anti-fraud purpose.

To protect the public from risk, it is not sufficient to rely on an individual freely and frankly disclosing fitness to practise against him or her. Sharing information is necessary to ensure that important fitness outcomes are available at the point of admission to a school.

By sharing certain information between schools, a school is able to determine whether an applicant has been found unfit to practise by another UK school so that it may consider the outcome of the previous student fitness to practise hearing alongside any evidence of remediation when making a decision about admission to the school.

The Medical Schools Council, Dental Schools Council, Pharmacy Schools Council and participating schools will not use the data supplied for any purpose other than that set out above.

What information will be shared and how

There is a specified limit on the amount and the nature of the information to be held on the Excluded Student Database and only two nominated individuals in the School of Clinical Dentistry will have access to it.

Information held on the Excluded Student Database will relate to those students who have been through a fitness to practise hearing and have been found unfit to practise.

Information about students who have been found unfit to practise, but who left the School voluntarily, may also be included on the Excluded Student Database provided that a formal fitness to practise hearing has taken place. The fitness to practise hearing would have reached an outcome, which would have been subject to any appeal, with the student notified and given a fair opportunity to participate at each stage of the process. This may include cases where fitness to practise hearing have been held ‘in absentia’ with the student informed of the hearing in advance and of the eventual outcome. Only once any appeals process has been completed will the student’s details be added to the database.

The details of students who do not progress or graduate for academic reasons will not be included on the database.

The information that may be included on the Excluded Student Database in order for a student to be identified:

• Known name(s) including any changes of name by Deed Poll
• Current gender and gender at birth
• Date of birth
• Name of the school which the student was excluded from
• UCAS ID
• Photograph
• A copy of the outcomes letter at the end of fitness to practise proceedings. (only made available once a match has been identified – for 48 hours only)

Applicants will be asked at Interview to provide their signed consent for the Excluded Student Database to be accessed if necessary.

Once registered on their programme of study at Sheffield, either BDS or Diploma in Dental Hygiene and Dental Therapy, a student will also be asked to give consent for their details to be included on the Excluded Student Database should the situation arise.