Regulator publishes annual report

The annual report gives details of achievements and activities in 2016 and the GDC’s ambitions for the coming years as it continues with the second year of a three-year roadmap and presses ahead with improvements to dental regulation set out in Shifting the balance: a better, fairer system of dental regulation.

The report is published at a time of increasing challenges and uncertainty in the wider environment in which the GDC and other health professional regulators operate in. The implications of the UK’s decision to exit the EU are still unfolding, while the health sector is working hard to deliver the best care to patients.

Demand is greater than ever and patients’ needs are becoming more complex. Questions regarding structural change are being asked across the UK, and dental professionals in England at least are also wrestling with imminent changes to the NHS contract.

It is in this context that the GDC is taking forward reform of dental regulation, rethinking its processes and moving resources “upstream” with the aim of preventing harm.