In The future of dental service regulation, published recently, bodies including the Care Quality Commission, the General Dental Council, the Department of Health and NHS England acknowledge that “multiple jeopardy and duplication of effort is both wasteful and stressful and can have far reaching professional and personal consequences.”
Janet Williamson from the Regulation of the Dental Services Programme Board, confirms the bodies need to “think differently” to deliver for patients. The report outlines steps to rationalise dental regulation, including needed action on data sharing, complaint management, quality improvement and communications.
The BDA has stressed the urgency of rationalisation and called on all the parties involved to press ahead with implementing the action plan.
Mick Armstrong, chair of the British Dental Association said:
"The proposals set out in this paper are simple common sense. As we’ve long argued no one wins from over regulation, and removing these multiple jeopardies could start lifting a huge weight from the shoulders of this profession.
“As low risk practitioners we’re forced to juggle competing demands from some agencies that frankly don’t understand their own roles and responsibilities. This red tape hasn’t made patients safer. It has, as this report rightly acknowledges, bred huge inefficiencies and made stress at work the default for colleagues.
“GDC overreach and underperformance has been a key driver behind this waste and stress. While this report talks tough on ‘duplication of effort’, it seems unlikely to curb our regulator’s bid to be the ‘one stop shop’ for everything from complaints to quality improvement. Any progress requires clear roles and tight remits, and the GDC can be no exception.
“Every dentist will agree it’s time to ‘think differently’ on regulation. Now we want to see real evidence that all the parties involved can turn slogans into real gains for practitioners and the public.”