The publication of the long awaited PSA report into GDC whistleblowing has revealed unacceptable organisational and personal failings at the top of the organisation.
The PSA report demonstrates not just historic failures, but an ongoing crisis of governance and oversight at the GDC.
The overseer of all the healthcare regulators in the UK, the PSA, singles out the current council chair for a litany of failures and ‘inappropriate’ decisions. The criticisms include the following:
- The chair failed to grasp the significance, or seriousness, of the concerns raised by the whistleblower about the GDC’s Investigating Committee’s processes;
- The chair was slow in informing other council members of the existence of the whistleblowing issue;
- The chair was unwilling to take any interim remedial action in response to those concerns and even those raised in the GDC’s own report;
- The chair and his council repeatedly failed in their obligation to challenge the information provided by their executive team;
- The PSA said it was inappropriate of the chair to appoint the GDC’s former director of governance to investigate his/her own manager;
- The GDC prevented the PSA from accessing the information it needed to complete its enquiry.
All in all, the BDA believes this highly critical report paints a picture of a management team doing exactly what it wanted to do and a Council not holding it to account.
Commenting on the report, BDA chair Mick Armstrong said:
“The BDA has consistently argued that the GDC is out of control and unaccountable. Once again, we can see why.
“The chair doesn’t understand dentistry and has failed to grasp that a fundamental prerequisite for good regulation is accountability and transparency. As this report shows, he has a disregard for his peers and is not open to scrutiny by the council. This is a disservice to both the profession and the public.
“He appears to lack any understanding of the significance of what has gone on and has, instead, sought to put up an organisational smokescreen.
“These behaviours are consistent with those we have seen previously and ones which we have already brought to the attention of government ministers.
“This only further reinforces the grave concerns and the massive loss of confidence the profession has in this hugely overpriced and underachieving regulator.
“Well enough is now more than enough. Dr Moyes must go.”