The General Dental Council announced on 17 October that they intend to bring in a number of changes aimed at improving the handling of fitness to practise complaints against dental professionals.
The GDC say that their aim is to improve the quality and speed of complaints handling to ensure patients are protected effectively.
Amongst the changes planned are:
- An increase in the number of decision meetings and hearings aimed at clearing a backlog of cases and reducing delays;
- An improved, front end diagnostic process to fast track the most serious cases and to deal proportionately with all other cases;
- The provision of clinical advice at the outset in cases where this is appropriate. This will complement the early diagnosis process and ensure cases are handled appropriately;
- A rigorous quality assurance process for all stages of the complaints handling process to ensure effective performance management;
- The introduction in 2011 of a top class case management database to assist workflow and provide management information.
More changes are also planned to improve the speed of the process and “proportionality” but these will require legislative change. Apparently the GDC is working with the Department of Health to effect these changes. The GDC plans a full consultation on the nature of these changes in early 2012.
Alison Miles-Jenkins
Founder & CEO
Training To Achieve
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