Francis Report action plan approved by GDC
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- Published: Friday, 30 August 2013 14:18
- Written by News Editor
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The General Dental Council (GDC) has set out its action plan in response to recommendations contained in the Francis Report. The first recommendation of the Francis Report into the failings at Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust is that all those involved in the provision or regulation of health care services must set out how they intend to respond to the report's findings and recommendations. This action plan is the GDC's response to this recommendation.
The GDC plan sets out 21 actions which are grouped under the following themes identified from the Francis Report as being central to the GDC's work:
- Delivering high standards of care and always putting patients first;
- Promoting openness, transparency and candour;
- Ensuring that the regulation and oversight of education and training protects patients;
- Developing a proactive approach to detecting and preventing harm to patients;
- Improving the use of data and information sharing between regulators to protect patients and the public and;
- Hearing the patient voice in the work of the GDC.
The plan sets out the GDC's intention to create an online patient engagement panel to ensure that patients' views are heard by the GDC and are able to effectively influence the regulation of dentistry.
The GDC will also seek to influence the Law Commission's review of professional regulation, with the intention of ensuring that there are no legal restrictions on the GDC investigating any allegations of impaired fitness to practise.
The action plan will be reviewed and updated to take account of external developments, such as the government's response to the Francis Report, the Berwick Review of patient safety, and the Keogh Report into acute hospital trusts, as well as the Clwyd-Hart review of complaints in the NHS.
A timeline for delivering the action plan will now be developed. The GDC will also continue to review how it has met the challenges set out by the Francis Report and how it has taken on board the lessons that have been learned.
More details can be found on the GDC's website www.gdc-uk.org
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