Please Help the GDC
- Details
- Published: Tuesday, 04 March 2025 08:54
- Written by Peter Ingle
- Hits: 1504
It is a source of some regret that the GDC, and in particular their communications team, refuse to communicate with GDPUK. A missed opportunity too, since our readers share the GDC‘s main ambition, to protect the public.
Despite the frosty relationship we are keen to help them out in their important work, wherever we can. There is just such an opportunity now for all registrants to help in the GDC’s crucial task of protecting the public and putting patient’s interest at the heart of all that we, and they, do.
Lately the GDC comms team have been busy and on the same day that registrants received a new round robin ‘latest news and updates,’ GDC Chair, Lord Toby Harris posted his latest ‘View from the Chair’ blog on the GDC website. Both of these contain important information. Amongst the items covered are changes to the CPD scheme and the Council’s recent review of Education, as well as Proposals to regulate NHS managers in England. There is also reference to the new SDCEP guidance document on Prevention and management of dental caries in children, which GDPUK will return to.
Lord Toby provided a brief update on the latest discussions at Council, which included a review of the GDC’s performance against the standards for regulators. This was the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) most recent performance report, published in December 2025. The GDC failed to meet two PSA standards. The chair referred to the GDC’s failure to meet EDI standards, but made no reference to its repeated failures on Fitness to Practice (FtP).
Now, there is a rare opportunity for registrants to be heard. In their news and updates mailing, the GDC have informed registrants that the PSA has launched a consultation on its own standards. The GDC quoted the CEO of the PSA, Alan Clamp, who said: “In the challenging environment that health and care practitioners are experiencing, it remains increasingly important to prioritise safety while adapting to change. In that context, it is essential that the standards focus our attention on the right things so that we can assess performance and drive improvement in regulation and registration of practitioners for the benefit of the public.
“All views on our standards are welcome.”
This is more than a rare opportunity for registrants’ to give their opinions on the GDC to its own regulator. In the absence of feedback, they would be reasonable to assume that registrants are satisfied with the GDCs performance.
Readers who would like to let the PSA know what they think of the GDC can participate here.
If you have thoughts about the GDCs performance on EDI, FtP, how it manages the CPD scheme, its protection of patients including their treatment from direct to patient operators, and clinics recruiting for overseas treatment, or any other aspect of its performance, this is a not to be missed opportunity.
You need to be logged in to leave comments.
Report
My comments