GDC launches reform consultation

26 January, 2017 / infocus
 

The General Dental Council (GDC) has launched its long-awaited consultation into its planned reforms of dental regulation in the UK.

The proposals outline how the regulator will aim to focus on the prevention of harm, making a “more active use of education and learning to support dental professionals throughout their career”. It says that the changes are focused on “securing patient protection, public confidence in dental services and a fairer regulatory system for professionals, which will be more agile, graduated and proportionate. Making these changes work will require the dental profession, regulators, educators and the many organisations and individuals involved in the sector to play an active role”.

Commenting on the proposals, William Moyes, chair of the GDC, said: “These plans present a significant shift in how we will regulate dental professionals in the future.

This is better for patients and for dental professionals, and for the reputation of the entire dental team

William Moyes

“At present, we deal with harm after things have gone wrong, investigating the resultant complaints and where necessary, applying sanctions.

“For the future, we want to give much more emphasis to preventing patients being harmed in the first place and ensuring lessons are learned from the cases that come to the GDC. This is better for patients and for dental professionals, and for the reputation of the entire dental team.”

Ian Brack, chief executive of the GDC, said: “This is our most significant proposal in a generation and I encourage anyone involved with dental services, whether as a dental professional, employer, educator, policy maker, indemnifier, professional association or patient, to engage with our plans.

“We have made it clear from the outset that we cannot do this alone – the proposals require fundamentally better collaboration with others than we have achieved in the past.

“I am confident that our proposals can make the system better for patients and fairer for dental professionals and strengthen public confidence in dental services.”

The consultation runs until 26 April 2017. To find out more, visit the GDC’s website.
To download and read the discussion document, click here.
To submit a response to the survey, click here.

Tags: consultation / Fitness to Practise / FtP / GDC / reform

Categories: News

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