Positive News from the GDC
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- Published: Tuesday, 25 June 2024 08:30
- Written by Peter Ingle
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“It is sometimes suggested to us that the GDC inflates concerns out of all proportion to their seriousness, often progressing cases all the way to a hearing when they could be resolved earlier.” So writes Clare Callan on the GDC website. Clare is the Associate Director of Fitness to Practice (FTP) at the GDC.
This is by no means the only insightful observation made in the feature on the GDC website. There is recognition not just that defensive dentistry exists, but that concerns about the GDC’s use of FTP contributes to registrants adopting this strategy. The reasonable approach continues with a recognition of how this affects patient care: “To protect themselves, they’re spending considerable time explaining all possible treatment options to their patients while taking copious notes to describe what they said and did and doing it in considerable detail – time that could be better spent treating and caring for patients.”
The associate director then sets out to explain how fitness to practice is changing. This is just as well when a GDC official has to explain that: “We are not out to get professionals, but we are told that it can feel that way when an investigation is underway.”
Clare Callan then gives some examples of positive progress at the GDC. With public confidence in the profession remaining high over the last decade, with an increasing number of UK registered dental professionals, the number of concerns received and initially assessed has reduced by more than half.
Seeking to explain this, improvements in complaints handling, including the Dental Complaints Service, are mentioned. At a basic level there is now more effort to provide guidance on how feedback or complaints can be pursued before involving the GDC. It is claimed that further improvements have been made recently, with a link provided to a page of the GDC website. How to make a complaint or get a refund (gdc-uk.org)
There is an explanation of how concerns are initially assessed. Further inquiries will be made if the GDC considers that either harm has or may be caused to the public, or public confidence in the profession has been or may be undermined. This is described as a low threshold, and as a result 85% of concerns arriving at FTP will proceed to having a case opened. At this next stage information gathering starts and records will be requested.
The GDC are currently processing an active caseload at assessment of around 550 cases.
Last year, almost 40% of all cases reaching case examiners fell into the category of clinical complaints raised by a single patient. In terms of seriousness, these are generally at the lower end of the scale and the initial inquiries pilot focussed on such cases. First impressions are that the pilot may help to speed up a process that often takes far too long.
There is reference to record keeping, with the GDC seeking a best of all worlds approach where it acknowledges that records will be used by their clinical advisers to assess standards of care, but the Council does not want dental professionals to spend too much time on them.
The introduction of case examiners in 2016 is claimed to have helped in concluding cases at an earlier stage of the FTP process. To put the risk of registrants experiencing FTP at first hand into perspective, there are some numbers.
In 2016, 333 cases were referred for a hearing, representing about three registrants in every 1,000 (0.3%) on the register that year. By 2023 the figure was nearer 1 in 1000.
Over the last two years staff have been taken on to help deal with the backlog, and equally importantly staff retention rates have improved.
In April and May 2024, the GDC outperformed their targets for cases to reach an Assessment decision for all case types.
Clare Callan’s conclusion is encouraging: “The reality of fitness to practise is that the number of serious concerns raised has reduced significantly over recent years and we are progressing fewer cases to the later stages. We have more to do to improve timeliness and the support provided to individuals, but the indications are that efforts across the sector to improve complaint handling and reduce the impact of investigations are having an effect and we are moving in the right direction.”
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