Performance Review 2019/20 GENERAL DENTAL COUNCIL
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for Health and Social Care performance review 2019/20 GENERAL DENTAL COUNCIL 21 ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE REVIEW PROCESS We aim to protect the public by improving the regulation of people who work in health and care. This includes our oversight of 10 organisations that regulate health and care professionals in the UK. As described in our legislation, we have a statutory duty to report annually to Parliament on the performance of each of these 10 regulators. Our performance reviews look at the regulators’ performance against our Standards of Good Regulation, which describe the outcomes we expect regulators to achieve. They cover the key areas of the regulators’ work, together with the more general expectations about the way in which we would expect the regulators to act. In carrying out our reviews, we aim to take a proportionate approach based on the information that is available about the regulator. In doing so, we look at concerns and information available to us from other stakeholders and members of the public. The process is overseen by a panel of the Authority’s senior staff. We initially assess the information that we have and which is publicly available about the regulator. We then identify matters on which we might require further information in order to determine whether a Standard is met. This further review might involve an audit of cases considered by the regulator or its processes for carrying out any of its activities. Once we have gathered this further information, we decide whether the individual Standards are met and set out any concerns or areas for improvement. These decisions are published in a report on our website. Further information about our review process can be found in a short guide, available on our website. The regulators we oversee are: General Chiropractic Council General Dental Council General Medical Council General Optical Council General Osteopathic Council General Pharmaceutical Council Health and Care Professions Council Nursing and Midwifery Council Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland Social Work England Find out more about our work www.professionalstandards.org.uk General Dental Council performance review report 2019/20 Contents At the heart 01 At a glance - key facts and statistics about how the General Dental Council is meeting the of everything Standards for 2019/20 we do is 02 Executive summary one simple purpose: 05 How the General Dental Council has performed against the Standards of Good Regulation protection of the public 05 General Standards Five Standards from harm 12 Guidance and Standards Two Standards 15 Education and Training Two Standards 18 Registration Four Standards 24 Fitness to Practise Five Standards 37 Glossary/useful links The General Dental Council key facts & stats The General Dental Council (GDC) regulates dental professionals in the United Kingdom. As at 30 June 2020, the GDC was responsible for a register of: 114,406 dental professionals Annual registration fee is: on its register £680 for dentists and £114 for dental care professionals The GDC's work includes: regulating the dental professions Standards of Good Regulation met (dentists, dental nurses, dental for 2019/20 performance review hygienists, dental technicians, dental therapists, orthodontic therapists and clinical dental technicians) in the General Standards 5/5 United Kingdom setting and maintaining standards Guidance and Standards 2/2 of practice and conduct; maintaining a register of qualified Education and Training 2/2 professionals. Only those appropriately registered with the Registration 4/4 GDC may practise dentistry in the UK; Fitness to Practise 3/5 assuring the quality of dental pre- registration education and training; Meeting, or not meeting, a Standard is requiring dental professionals not the full story about how a regulator is to keep their skills up to date performing. You can find out more in the full through continuing professional report. development; taking action to restrict or remove from practice registrants who are not considered to be fit to practise. The General Dental Council Executive summary How the GDC is protecting the public and meeting the Standards of Good Regulation This report arises from our annual performance review of the General Dental Council (GDC) and covers the period from 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2020. The GDC is The GDC’s performance one of 10 health and care professional during 2019/20 regulatory organisations in the UK which we oversee. We assessed the GDC’s performance against the Standards of As a result of our initial review, we Good Regulation which describe the had concerns about how quickly outcomes we expect regulators to achieve the GDC progresses its fitness to in each of their four core functions. We practise cases and its approach to revised our Standards in 2019; this is the risk assessments in relation to first performance review of the GDC under Standards 15 and 17, which we the new Standards. needed to obtain further information on before being able to To carry out this review, we collated and determine whether the Standards analysed evidence from the GDC and were met. We therefore determined other interested parties, including Council that a targeted review was required papers, performance reports and updates, for these Standards. Following a committee reports and meeting minutes, policy, guidance and consultation targeted review, we concluded that documents, our statistical performance the GDC has not met Standards 15 dataset and third-party feedback. We also and 17. utilised information available through our review of final fitness to practise decisions under the Section 29 process1 and conducted a check of the accuracy of the GDC’s register. We used this information to decide the type of performance review we should undertake. Further information about our review process can be found in our Performance Review Process guide, which is available on our website. General Standards When we revised the Standards, we introduced a new set of General Standards. There are five Standards covering a range of areas including: providing accurate, accessible information; clarity of purpose; equality, diversity and inclusion; reporting on performance and addressing organisational concerns; and consultation and engagement with stakeholders to manage risk. 1 Each regulator we oversee has a ‘fitness to practise’ process for handling complaints about health and care professionals. The most serious cases are referred to formal hearings in front of fitness to practise panels. We review every final decision made by the regulators’ fitness to practise panels. If we consider that a decision is insufficient to protect the public properly we can refer them to Court to be considered by a judge. Our power to do this comes from Section 29 of the NHS Reform and Health Care Professions Act 2002 (as amended). 2 We found that the GDC was clear about its purpose and provided useful information about its statutory duties, policies and processes which were clear and accessible. The GDC understands the diversity of its registrants and we saw evidence that the GDC analyses the equality, diversity and inclusion data that it collects and uses the data to develop its understanding of the impact of its policies upon individuals with protected characteristics. We were satisfied that its processes do not impose inappropriate barriers to people with protected characteristics. The GDC carefully considered the Williams review into gross negligence manslaughter in healthcare and the Authority’s Lessons Learned Review into the NMC’s handling of concerns about midwives’ fitness to practise at the Furness General Hospital. We noted that, in response, the GDC conducted a gap analysis of its systems and processes which found no significant gaps in its processes. The GDC regularly consults and works with all relevant stakeholders to identify risks to the public in respect of its registrants. We saw evidence that the GDC has taken steps to increase patient and public involvement in its work which has led to members of the public attending GDC events, meetings and taking part in primary research. Key developments and findings Standards for the Dental Team The GDC is continuing its review into the Standards for the Dental Team through its work on its ‘Promoting Professionalism’ project. The GDC published its research on Professionalism: a mixed-methods research study which found that there were multiple differences in views of what constitutes professionalism between the public and dental professionals. The research findings will be used to inform the development of a set of ‘Principles of Professionalism’ which will feed into the review of the Standards for the Dental Team. Revision Process for speciality dental training curricula During this performance review period, the GDC commenced the process of revising all 13 curricula for dental specialty training. In some cases, the curricula are more than 10 years old and do not reflect clinical developments in the specialty. The GDC developed a guide for the process of revision and approval of the revised curriculum, which it developed in collaboration with postgraduate deans across the four devolved nations and the GMC. The GDC developed a Specialty Curriculum Review Team who are responsible for reviewing the curricula and making recommendations to the Registrar about approval. The GDC expects the revised curricula to be in place for the 2021/22 academic year. Overseas Registration Examination Last year, we were concerned that individuals were not able to access a place to sit the Overseas Registration Examination (ORE) due to the oversubscription of the examination. The GDC is limited by its legislation, in that the cost of the ORE cannot be subsidised by the registration fees of registered dental professionals and the examination must be conducted by an approved Dental Authority, resulting in a limited number of providers able to offer the ORE. This year, the GDC has been working with the Department of Health and 3 Social Care to enact changes to the GDC’s legislation to ensure that international registrants do not face barriers to registration.