Welcoming the review of non-medical regulation and the CMO's report Good Doctors, Safer Patients, General Dental Council (GDC) President, Hew Mathewson said:
"I am pleased that the importance of the role of professional regulation in ensuring patient protection has been recognised. Protecting patients is the focus of our work and that of the other healthcare regulators. It is important that our role in ensuring that professionals meet the standards we set for them continues to be strengthened and developed. We are encouraged that the recommendations in the Report on non-medical regulation are broadly in the direction of travel that the GDC has clearly laid out, and with the reforms we are delivering.
"We are implementing significant changes which strengthen our role in protecting dental patients and promoting high standards in dentistry. We have:
-- already introduced sanctions guidance for our fitness to practise panels
-- produced common standards for all professionals on our registers
-- set up a complaints scheme about non-NHS treatment.
We are also about to:
-- open a new register for all members of the dental team;
-- reform the Council's procedures for dealing with misconduct and ill health amongst dental professionals, using the civil standard of proof in all cases, and introduce new procedures to tackle poor performance.
"We are currently in the process of reviewing our constitution and have had an independent adjudication panel since August 2003. We have already consulted on our initial proposals for taking a revalidation scheme forward for our registrants. We look forward to considering further the recommendations from this Report in these and other areas.
"The reports emphasise the need for greater cooperation between regulators. We are ready for this new phase in collaborative working, building on the work we have done to date to ensure commonality and consistency in the approach to healthcare regulation. They also present a number of challenges for the healthcare regulators; the GDC is well placed to respond to these constructively. Our Council will now consider the findings of the review in more detail and respond fully to the Department of Health's consultation. We will publish our response to the review in due course."
1 - A Department of Health review into the regulation of non-medical professionals - undertaken concurrently with the Chief Medical Officers review into the regulation of doctors - was published today. The review into non-medical regulation can be found at dh.uk/liveconsultations. The CMO's report Good Doctors, Safer Patients can be found at dh.uk/cmo.
2 - The GDC is already reviewing its constitution in light of the recommendations made by Dame Janet Smith in the Shipman report and also to reflect the changes to our registrant base as a result of the new DCP register we are introducing. Through reviewing our constitution we are committed to ensuring professional regulation is effective, patient-centred, independent and robustly accountable to Parliament.
3 - Legislation in the form of an Order made under section 60 of the Health Act 1999, amending the Dentists Act 1984, was approved by the Scottish and UK Parliaments in June-July 2005. The Order extended the GDC's powers, to make it a more efficient and effective regulator, and to strengthen its role in protecting patients and promoting good oral health and high standards of dentistry.
4 - Patients are entitled to know that the people who deliver their dental care are properly trained and regulated. We already register dentists, dental hygienists and dental therapists, and on 31 July 2006 we are due to open a new register covering all dental care professionals (DCPs) directly involved in patient care - including dental nurses and dental technicians.
5 - The Dental Complaints Service was set up in May 2006 to help resolve complaints about private dental care as fairly, efficiently, transparently and swiftly as possible. It is an independent service funded by the General Dental Council.
6 - On 31 July 2006, we plan to launch a new overhauled fitness to practise system. Our aim is to create a more streamlined, more robust and more effective framework for tackling fitness to practise problems. This will include, for the first time, procedures designed to protect the public from persistent poor performance where this doesn't equate to misconduct.
7 - In our response to the Foster review we stated that adjudication panels could take the form of an arm's length panel, which the GDC has already implemented, or a single independent adjudicator for all the professions. We stated that professionals used as 'experts' to inform such a panel should not be attached to either the defence or prosecution teams.
"I am pleased that the importance of the role of professional regulation in ensuring patient protection has been recognised. Protecting patients is the focus of our work and that of the other healthcare regulators. It is important that our role in ensuring that professionals meet the standards we set for them continues to be strengthened and developed. We are encouraged that the recommendations in the Report on non-medical regulation are broadly in the direction of travel that the GDC has clearly laid out, and with the reforms we are delivering.
"We are implementing significant changes which strengthen our role in protecting dental patients and promoting high standards in dentistry. We have:
-- already introduced sanctions guidance for our fitness to practise panels
-- produced common standards for all professionals on our registers
-- set up a complaints scheme about non-NHS treatment.
We are also about to:
-- open a new register for all members of the dental team;
-- reform the Council's procedures for dealing with misconduct and ill health amongst dental professionals, using the civil standard of proof in all cases, and introduce new procedures to tackle poor performance.
"We are currently in the process of reviewing our constitution and have had an independent adjudication panel since August 2003. We have already consulted on our initial proposals for taking a revalidation scheme forward for our registrants. We look forward to considering further the recommendations from this Report in these and other areas.
"The reports emphasise the need for greater cooperation between regulators. We are ready for this new phase in collaborative working, building on the work we have done to date to ensure commonality and consistency in the approach to healthcare regulation. They also present a number of challenges for the healthcare regulators; the GDC is well placed to respond to these constructively. Our Council will now consider the findings of the review in more detail and respond fully to the Department of Health's consultation. We will publish our response to the review in due course."
1 - A Department of Health review into the regulation of non-medical professionals - undertaken concurrently with the Chief Medical Officers review into the regulation of doctors - was published today. The review into non-medical regulation can be found at dh.uk/liveconsultations. The CMO's report Good Doctors, Safer Patients can be found at dh.uk/cmo.
2 - The GDC is already reviewing its constitution in light of the recommendations made by Dame Janet Smith in the Shipman report and also to reflect the changes to our registrant base as a result of the new DCP register we are introducing. Through reviewing our constitution we are committed to ensuring professional regulation is effective, patient-centred, independent and robustly accountable to Parliament.
3 - Legislation in the form of an Order made under section 60 of the Health Act 1999, amending the Dentists Act 1984, was approved by the Scottish and UK Parliaments in June-July 2005. The Order extended the GDC's powers, to make it a more efficient and effective regulator, and to strengthen its role in protecting patients and promoting good oral health and high standards of dentistry.
4 - Patients are entitled to know that the people who deliver their dental care are properly trained and regulated. We already register dentists, dental hygienists and dental therapists, and on 31 July 2006 we are due to open a new register covering all dental care professionals (DCPs) directly involved in patient care - including dental nurses and dental technicians.
5 - The Dental Complaints Service was set up in May 2006 to help resolve complaints about private dental care as fairly, efficiently, transparently and swiftly as possible. It is an independent service funded by the General Dental Council.
6 - On 31 July 2006, we plan to launch a new overhauled fitness to practise system. Our aim is to create a more streamlined, more robust and more effective framework for tackling fitness to practise problems. This will include, for the first time, procedures designed to protect the public from persistent poor performance where this doesn't equate to misconduct.
7 - In our response to the Foster review we stated that adjudication panels could take the form of an arm's length panel, which the GDC has already implemented, or a single independent adjudicator for all the professions. We stated that professionals used as 'experts' to inform such a panel should not be attached to either the defence or prosecution teams.
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