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General Dental Council
Website Review: Dental Professionals Survey Invitation to Tender
Summary
1. The General Dental Council (GDC) invites tender proposals for a research project on the usability of the GDC website from the dental professionals’ perspective. Namely, investigating how and why dental professionals access information on the website, and how this could be optimised in the redesign of the website.
2. The website is a key source of information for a wide range of the GDC’s stakeholders, including dental professionals. As it has been five years since the website was last re-designed. We are reviewing the website to ensure that it better meets the needs of its users in terms of design, layout, content and accessibility for users accessing the website, including from mobile devices. 3. The GDC is looking for a single supplier to design, undertake and report on
research on dental professionals’ experience with the GDC website, including the recruitment and management of a quantitative sample of dental professionals from across the United Kingdom. We want to develop a better understanding of:
The frequency and reasons for accessing the GDC website What content should be represented on the website
What aspects of the website dental professionals find to be “user-friendly”, easy to navigate etc. and those aspects that need to be improved
Views on overall aesthetics, layout and design of the website Views on specific webpages designed for dental professionals
Opinions on the information displayed on the online register of Dental professionals who are registered by the GDC to practice dentistry in the UK, which are published on the website
4. The successful supplier will be responsible for the recruitment of dental professionals, (the GDC will supply a copy of an up to date register of dental professionals from which the sample can be drawn) and subsequent
management of the project. They will be responsible for the organisation field work and design and carry out the research, analysis and reporting and project management while working closely with the GDC.
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Introduction
6. The GDC is responsible for regulating dental professionals in the United
Kingdom. Its aim is to protect dental patients by regulating dental professionals. All dentists and dental care professionals1 (DCPs) are required by law to be registered with the GDC to work in the United Kingdom. There are approximately 104,000 dentists and dental care professionals registered with the GDC (as of September 2014).
7. The GDC was established by an Act of Parliament in 1956 and is governed by the Dentistry Act 1984. It is independent of the government and the National Health Service.
8. In addition to registering dental professionals, the GDC protects the public by: setting standards of dental practice and conduct;
assuring the quality of dental education; ensuring professionals keep up to date;
investigating complaints about the fitness to practise of a dentist or dental care professional; and
working to strengthen patient protection.Research Context
9. The General Dental Council uses research to build an evidence base to inform the organisation’s policy and practice. This is underpinned by the GDC’s Corporate Strategy which adopts evidence-based policy as a corporate value, stating that ‘policy is developed on the basis of consultation and evidence.’ 10. The GDC is committed to building an evidence base about patients and dental
professionals. During recent years, we have invested in an integrated programme of qualitative and quantitative research which has been recognised as an
example of good practice by the Professional Standards Authority (which oversees health regulation in the UK).
Recent projects include:
The annual patient and public survey 2014. The survey provides robust and reliable findings about the attitudes and perceptions of the general public and dental patients about their dental care and dental regulation; Dental professionals’ attitudes towards raising concerns in the workplace Patient and public attitudes to the GDC’s standards for dental
professionals;
Dental Professionals awareness of the GDC standards
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DCPs are dental nurses, dental technicians, clinical dental technicians, dental hygienists, dental therapists and orthodontic therapists
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Further details of recent research projects can be found here on the GDC website. The GDC website project will build upon this programme of work.
Policy context
11. The website is a key source of information for a wide range of the GDC’s stakeholders, including dental professionals. As it has been five years since the website was last re-designed we are reviewing the website to ensure that it better meets the needs of its users in terms of design, layout, content and accessibility for users accessing the website from mobile devices.
12. The research will be used to help us understand how user behaviours and perspectives have developed over the past few years, in order to ensure that the redesigned website meets their needs.
13. The other aspect this research will cover is the online register publication details. The GDC maintains a list of dentists and dental care professionals who are registered and therefore able to legally work in the UK. This list is known as the Register and is publically available to view on our website. For each entry on our register we provide the following information:
Name
Registered address Registration status Registration number Registrant type
Date of first registration Current period of registration Qualifications
Fitness to practise information (where available)
14. During 2014 we consulted on changes to our Register Rules and Regulations and during that consultation we received some feedback relating to our policy on publishing registered addresses on the online register. During this research exercise, we will be reviewing what information we make available on the register and would be particularly in interested in seeking registrants’ views on the
provision of address information on the register.
Aims and objectives of this research project
15. The GDC is currently redesigning their website, to be launched in 2016. The website will be designed to optimally reflect the needs of the public, dental professionals and GDC staff.
16. Once the needs and preferences of these three groups are identified, the GDC web team will be able to incorporate this into the website design and creation. 17. In order to do this, the GDC would like to speak to dental professionals to
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what content dental professionals feel is of most use to them, with particular reference to the homepage;
views on the information currently made available on the online register of dental professionals (registered by the GDC to practice in the United Kingdom).
how easily dental professionals find the information they are looking for on the website
the issues that dental professionals currently encounter when using the website
preferences for website layout, style, format and language
the devices that dental professionals are most likely to use to access the GDC website (PC, smartphone, tablet etc.), and what content is most suitable
the type of media that dental professionals would like to access on the GDC website e.g. text based pages, videos, podcasts etc.
Research design and methodology
18. The GDC has already commissioned research utilising our online patient panel to inform the patient and public preferences and usability of the GDC website. This has included interrogating opinions on content and layout, and assessment processes and ease of use through task-based scenarios.
19. The quantitative research on dental professionals’ experience with the GDC website will build upon the public and GDC staff feedback, to build a well-rounded website suitable for the diverse population accessing it.
20. The GDC envisages that the research for this project will employ a purely quantitative approach in the form of an online survey. The survey could
incorporate specific tasks –e.g. asking participants to look at specific web pages and tracking/obtaining feedback.
21. However, research organisations responding to this tender document do not have to limit their research methods to those outlined above, and can propose any methodology that they think is appropriate.
Sampling Strategy
22. Research organisations responding to this tender should outline their proposed sampling strategies for any quantitative elements of the research.
23. The GDC has contact details for all dental professionals on the GDC register. In addition, participants who took part in the Annual Survey of dental professionals were asked to ‘opt in’ to being contacted about further GDC research. A sample
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of dental professionals for the research could be drawn from one or both of these sources.
Ethics and confidentiality
24. It is essential that those approached to take part in this project are confident that their confidentiality and anonymity will be respected by the researchers and the GDC. Research organisation responding to this proposal should outline how they plan to address this and any other ethical issues raised by this research.
Report writing
25. The draft and final report and any presentations as part of this project, must be written in a style appropriate for diverse audiences. It must be clear and
comprehensible, adopting a ‘plain english’ approach. It must be capable of withstanding rigorous internal and external scrutiny.
Evaluation criteria
26. Tenders will be evaluated on the basis of best value and quality. GDC resources are raised through an annual fee paid by dental professionals. Providing and demonstrating value for money and cost effectiveness is fundamental to the GDC. The tender will be evaluated against the following criteria:
Quality Criteria
Your understanding of the research brief
Your approach to recruiting and managing the samples of dental professionals as stipulated
The research methods and techniques you would use for the project and your rationale for why they are appropriate.
Experience of conducting and managing similar relevant work, including a brief description of specific project(s) and recent examples of research your company has conducted, ideally in relation to similar patient, practitioner and/or public engagement projects to the research proposed.
Project management and project planning, also including: quality assurance; management of risk (setting out risks you foresee and how you would mitigate them); an indicative timetable with milestones and deliverables
How you will reflect equality and diversity considerations in managing and delivering the project
Approach to ensuring value for money and justification for costs
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your project team and for each member, provide the numbers of days and daily rates Experience and ability to write and present complex information and data in ‘plain english’ for a for a diverse range of audiences, including policy makers, key stakeholders, patients and the general public
Timescale
30. The timescale for this project is as follows:
Action Date
ITT issued Wednesday 25 February 2015
Bids received by Wednesday 11 March 2015
Bids shortlisted Monday 16 March 2015
Interviews held Wednesday 18 March 2015
Winning bidder appointed Friday 20 March 2015
Set up meeting held Monday 23 March 2015
Fieldwork completed Monday 20 April 2015
First draft report received Monday 27 April 2015 Final draft report received Monday 4 May 2015
The timescales relating to the surveys are indicative. A detailed project plan with a timeline, milestones and deliverables will be agreed with the successful contractor.
Responding to this document 31. Tender Submission and Selection
Your application – where your proposal shows how it meets the evaluation criteria - should be no longer than 12 A4 sides (this does not include the documents under Paragraph 26).
Selection is subject to signing a research contract with the GDC. 32. Please include in your proposal:
Your payment terms
Company Profile - A brief profile of your company, including numbers of staff and years trading
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Staff - Details of staff who would be working on finalising the research design, including their professional qualifications and experience (please attach CVs). Also provide a clear breakdown of the amount of time and level of responsibility that would be allocated to each staff member involved in this research
Quality Assurance - The quality assurance methods and standards you use, including the measures you have in place with any companies to whom you may sub-contract part of this work
References - References from two organisations of a comparable size to the GDC for whom you have provided similar services and who would be prepared to talk to us by phone about the quality of your work and service
Financial Statement - A current set of accounts or a financial statement demonstrating your financial viability as a supplier of services to the GDC Equality and Diversity - A copy of your organisation's Equality and Diversity
statement
Liability Insurance - Copies of your Employers Liability and Public Liability Insurances showing that these cover: (a) individuals employed to undertake the research; and (b) research participants on your premises (or relevant venue)
If you have any questions or comments about this tender, please contact Guy Rubin at:
Email: research@gdc-uk.org Telephone: 020 7167 6109
Please email your proposal to research@gdc-uk.org by 5pm on Wednesday 11th March 2015.
