Changing regulation

As a registrant council member (I am a dentist based in East Sussex) I want to put some of the issues being faced by the GDC into context, and perhaps dispel some myths at the same time.

When I was appointed to council last year, along with the first lay chair William Moyes, I was naturally already aware that regulation was changing. In addition, it was recognised that the GDC should be at the heart of these changes to provide for our primary role, that of patient protection.
On the whole, our patients say they’re satisfied with their dental treatment, but complaints are going up. This is not just the case for the GDC, it is true for all healthcare regulators, and we must better understand why this is. We need to hear from patients and the profession. Finding out about complaints is part of our work programme going forward.

The ARF was last increased in 2010, since then fitness to practise complaints (FtP) to the GDC have increased by 110 per cent.  Without further significant investment in our FtP processes we’ll be unable to deal effectively with the very large and continuing increase in our caseload. This is the most expensive part of our work. If a case reaches a hearing, the cost is around £19,500 per day and the length of a hearing ranges from a third of a day to 35 days.
The GDC is investing substantial sums to tackle the problems in FtP, many of which were highlighted in the recent Professional Standards Authority report. There is no doubt that the report was critical of the GDC, and failure to meet the PSA’s standards is entirely unacceptable and all the GDC’s efforts are focused on tackling the problems. This has already involved recruiting more staff and more FtP panellists to clear a backlog of cases and to process new cases faster; more robust management of staff performance; and improvements to our IT and related systems.