BDA slams GDC proposal
The chair of the British Dental Association’s Principal Executive Committee, Mick Armstrong, met with GDC leaders this morning and expressed his alarm at the dental regulator’s plans for a 64 per cent rise in the annual retention fee.
The proposal for the fee rise which was announced yesterday would see dentists fees rise from £576 to £945. Dentists have no choice but to pay, in order for them to practise lawfully.
Armstrong told GDC leaders that that such a rise is wholly unacceptable. The scale of the rise is unprecedented and is at odds with the actions of all other regulators. It also comes on the back of a highly critical Professional Standards Authority (PSA) report on the GDC.
Commenting on the proposed fee rise, Mick Armstrong said:
“The suggestion that the profession pay more to fund a Council that has been shown unable to do its job properly is frankly astonishing. The rise would be unpalatable at the best of times but it now appears that the profession is being asked to foot the bill for failure.”
The PSA report concluded that the GDC had failed to meet seven out of 10 standards governing registrants’ fitness to practise. These failings have led to both patients and dentists being left in limbo and have added to the stress experienced by all parties involved. Pumping more money from registrants into a flawed system is not the solution.
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