I am writing with regard to your feature concerning DCP education (Vital autumn 2006). The article did mention that the list was not exhaustive, however, every single school training dental therapists within the UK was described with one notable exception — our school.

The Greater Manchester School is unique in that it is housed within a Primary Care Trust, not a university or dental school. It is also the ‘nwest school’ which opened its doors to students in January 2005.

Our website is www.manpcd.co.uk.

The compiler of the article, Julie Ferry, responds: I am very sorry to hear that the omission of The Greater Manchester School from my DCP course feature in the autumn issue caused so much distress to you and your colleagues. Of course this was not intentional however the article was designed as a starting point for people to begin looking for courses and that is why we included the caveat at the beginning to explain that the list was not meant to be exhaustive. I tried to ensure that all areas of the country and most large cities were represented and I think I did this successfully. The feature was particularly difficult to research as there isn't a central resource of information for DCP courses and I assure you I spent many hours online and on the phone trying to collate information. The fact that The Greater Manchester School was not included in the article should in no way detract from the excellent work you and your colleagues do there and I hope that this apology goes some way to ensuring that Vital readers know that it is a leader in dental hygiene and therapy education.