Dental regulation in UK must overcome climate of fear, GDC exec says

In an effort to streamline the often-criticised fit to practise investigations, for example, initial measures have been taken over the last 12 months, according to Hill, by the introduction of case examiners, who make decisions formerly made by the GDC’s Investigating Committee. He also said that an end-to-end review of the process is underway in order to gain more feedback to pursue further changes. For this purpose, the regulator has also conducted its first analysis of its fit to practise data and recently published the preliminary results. These will be used to help transform internal processes and policies, such as the development of new materials to ease the transition of dentists who were trained abroad into UK dentistry.

Furthermore, the approach to continuing professional development (CPD) will see changes over the upcoming months. Starting at the beginning of 2018 for dentists and eight months later for other dental professionals, the new scheme, called “Enhanced CPD”, will require dental professionals to have a personal development plan and to spread verifiable hours more evenly across the five-year cycle, among other stipulations.

“The current model of further education favours quantity over quality,” Hill commented. “We are committed to turning this relationship around by putting more emphasis on peer-to-peer education. The profession itself is the best learning resource.”

Over the last several years, the GDC has increasingly come under scrutiny by the profession, including the British Dental Association, for not being an effective regulator. In particular, it has been criticised for the lack of dental professionals working within the body and time-consuming and stressful handling of complaints.

The subject of an investigation in 2015 himself, London dentist Prof. Edwin Scheer, who chaired the meeting, said, “No dentist in this country should be afraid when receiving a letter from the GDC. It is encouraging to see that change is finally taking place and that more opportunism are created for dentists to have their say are provided through the employment of professionals, for example.”

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