Oh to have been a fly on the wall when Mick met Bill. I believe the chair of the BDA’s PEC, Mick Armstrong, recently met Bill Moyes, the president of the General Dental Council, and enjoyed a frank exchange of views about the state of the GDC. Mick Armstrong is, as we are all coming to recognise, a Yorkshireman with attitude, and is unafraid to speak strongly to those in positions of power. Bill Moyes is also unafraid to be controversial in his views, recently suggesting in The Times that dentistry should learn from the supermarkets and become more customer focussed with a range of options and prices akin to Waitrose and Lidl. The BDA responded firstly with a simple scathing comment from GDPC chair John Milne that it was too simplistic to view healthcare as a market and followed up with a withering critique of the GDC chair’s position from Peter Ward in the BDJ. So the BDA and the GDC are lining up for a bit of a scrap!
However, the GDC had just announced a consultation around their proposal of a whopping 64 per cent increase in the annual retention fee (from £576 to £945) mainly due to the increasing numbers and costs of handling fitness to practise cases (the GDCs performance in handling such cases has also been criticised by the Professional Standards Authority). All of which meant the BDA unleashed a storm of criticism, accusing he GDC of arrogance and incompetence, and then giving the profession the resulting bill. Was it coincidence that the GDC then fuelled the fires of anger even more by placing an advert in The Telegraph soliciting patients who were not “completely satisfied” with their private treatment to utilise the Dental Complaints Service? If anything this looks like a GDC hell bent on conflict with the profession it is meant to regulate. No wonder the BDA is angry, and Mick was off again challenging the use of registrants’ money in this way, calling it a “disgrace” and a lack of judgement.
But the level of anger spreads wider than the BDA and there are online petitions, Twitter, Facebook and dental websites are full of indignation and calls to “do something” from thousands of dentists. Suggestions range from irritating the GDC with FOI requests to non-payment of the additional money. The latter approach risks losing registration and possible jeopardy of any NHS contracts held. The BDA has written to the Secretary of State for Health Jeremy Hunt asking him to urgently review the working of the GDC, and it is Parliament and the PSA who have the power to take action.
But how will this all end? Some are calling for heads to roll at the GDC but when the dust settles it is clear that there are far too many cases going through the fitness to practise process, and the number of cases growing year on year. Is this a reflection of a profession that is incompetent or unfit for purpose? Or is it a consequence of growing consumer awareness and a willingness to complain more readily? One thing is pretty certain however, and that is that the GDC process is disproportional and out of control. A sensible way forward would be for the GDC to refer complaints back to the dental practice concerned for local resolution as a first step. That is good practice in complaints handling whether NHS or private. The GDC should only invoke fitness to practise procedures if there is a clear risk to public safety. The GDC is there to protect patients and regulate the profession, not to act as judge and jury over every small complaint that crosses its threshold.
These recent events, and the overwhelming response of the profession suggest that dentists are losing confidence in the GDC. That is something that we should all be concerned about, and the GDC needs to take a good look at itself.