GDC Plans Detailed Workforce Survey - Doubts Are Raised

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Published: Wednesday, 14 June 2023 08:18
Written by Peter Ingle
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GDC Plans Detailed Workforce Survey - Doubts Are Raised

One change generally agreed to be for the better at the GDC, was the arrival of Lord Toby Harris as Chair, replacing the deeply unloved William Moyes. Lord Harris frequently refers to his aim to meet registrants and stakeholders on a regular basis, and this includes some dentists. 

In his latest blog he spoke of opportunities, “where people can hear from us in person and ask questions.” He finished the section of his blog with: “I’m in Harrogate on Friday and looking forward to meeting representatives from Local Dental Committees at their annual conference and speaking about some of the GDC’s priorities.” There was no clue that he would have at least one surprise for his audience.

Lord Harris’s background in politics and the upper echelons of the public sector was evident in his address to the LDC conference. He spoke of his belief “that we can only be a truly effective regulator if we are able to develop and maintain strong, effective collaborative working relationships.” As evidence of this he spoke about the GDC’s Dental Leadership Network an impressively named body about which there is limited awareness amongst registrants.

In an unusually political series of comments Lord Harris spoke about NHS dentistry. He noted Conference Chair Mark Green’s, warning that, “the business model in the NHS is forcing so many into the private sector.” He spoke about the access challenges faced by so many, and of “troubling findings” that the cost of living crisis was proving an additional barrier to treatment.

Lord Harris did recognise that the GDC could only deliver its remit of public safety and confidence within its regulatory remit, which led him to the issue of workforce. He accepted that workforce challenges are beyond the GDC’s powers to solve, but that they might be able to do something “to illuminate public debate about these matters.”

And then came the big idea, “Everyone I have spoken to about this has seen the value of capturing some simple workforce data: are registrants practicing full-time or part-time; how much of their work is under the NHS contract; and so on. This simple factual data could be collected as part of the annual renewal process.”

He went on to consider some of the practicalities, and observed that the workforce data would have to be obtained on a voluntary basis, but hoped that the wider dental community would support the move. When it came to timing, the GDC hoped to have it ready for dentist’s registration renewal at the end of 2023. Finishing this part of his address he said, “We are looking to do this because there is a clear need for the information, and we are well placed to collect it. It is not a core function of our regulatory remit, but to do this we would believe be helpful to ensuring that the wider political debate on the future direction of dentistry in the UK is properly informed and soundly based in facts. I hope that we can rely of the support of the BDA - and you as LDC Chairs - to support this initiative and reassure dentists as to why the data is being asked for and how it will be used.”

Both the initiative, the manner of its announcement, and how it fits into the overall picture of the GDC’s relationship with its dentist registrants, raise some challenging questions.

Reaction, so far, has been muted. On twitter, BDA Chair Eddie Crouch, observed that while workforce data was important, the GDC might not be the right place to collect it.

He went on to question the professions willingness to provide information to the GDC, particularly in view of recent FTP and court cases.

In conversation with him, GDPC member Judith Husband, spoke for many saying that, “The GDC are not a trusted partner to the profession in my experience. There is the additional question - is this actually a regulatory function, to be funded by the registrants?”

To this should be added a discussion about the accuracy of such data, experience with GP’s has shown that asking about hours worked led to very different conclusions to asking about days.

The elephant in the room must be why the NHS have not collected this data. The outgoing CDO has spoken frequently about using standardised information in health care as well as producing many plans and initiatives. And yet after her eight years in post, the same conference heard Rachael Maskell MP of the Health Select Committee, say that she was “astounded by the paucity of data.”

Conveniently conference was running a little late and so Lord Harris did not take any questions from the floor. He had been accompanied by two senior members of the GDC, including the head of their communications department and Executive Director Stefan Czerniawski, and he did say that they could be approached during the break. As many have learned, when it comes to the GDC if it is not written down, it did not happen, so there would have been limited value to any such one to one conversations.

Meanwhile nothing was said about another data collection project which the GDC announced last November. This one involved a promise to reveal how many of the 16 registrants dying during Fitness to Practice proceedings from 2019 to 2021, had committed suicide. That process, supposed to be completed by the end of June 2023 has now been delayed, with no new date offered.

It might be reassuring if the next Dental Leadership Network meeting involved a discussion on the GDC’s priorities.

GDC Chair’s addresses delegates at the LDC Conference, Harrogate, 9 June 2023 (gdc-uk.org) 

Image Credit: Russell Gidney

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Eddie Crouch
GDC
Of course the origin of the idea on workforce probably originated elsewhere There is no doubt huge pressures politically to change entry to not only the GDC register but Performers List
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