Since 2018, all the healthcare regulators have jointly compiled an annual report to highlight their coordinated effort in working together to highlight and address whistleblowing concerns raised with them.
The aim of the report is to be transparent about how the regulators handle disclosures, to highlight the action taken about these issues, and to help support collaboration across the health sector. According to the GDC, speaking up to protect others is important, and it wants to encourage this, especially when there are serious concerns regarding public safety or confidence in the dental professionals it regulates.
In 2024, the regulator received 79 whistleblowing disclosures, compared to 82 last year.
According to the GDC, there have been improvements in how it has dealt with whistleblowing concerns. It has enhanced the way it reviews concerns when they are received through its initial assessment process, enabling the GDC to better identify whistleblowing complaints earlier.
During this period, the GDC also reviewed and amended its processes and procedures for the identification of whistleblowers, which included moving the responsibility for whistleblower identification to its in-house legal advisory service as part of their role within the Initial Assessment Decision Group. This has enabled the regulator to take an early legal review of all cases, helping to identify whistleblowers and provide better protection and support to them.
According to the regulator, work is ongoing to amend its initial concern reporting webform to allow individuals raising concerns to self-identify as whistleblowers.
The report also highlighted that, relative to other healthcare regulators, the GDC received a higher proportion of disclosures in relation to the size of its register. It said this is because most dentistry is provided in a primary care setting and outside the more robust clinical governance frameworks that characterise some other forms of healthcare. This may mean that alternative disclosure routes are less present in dentistry.