The General Dental Council (GDC) has been given a green light to make changes to its fitness to practise proceedings.
An order has been laid before Parliament granting the GDC new powers related to the process of investigating fitness to practise (FtP) cases. According to the GDC, these new powers should enable a more efficient investigation to take place when a FtP complaint is brought up, improving the overal process.
A rise in FtP complaints over recent years has led the GDC to have a backlog of cases, with the average time taken from initial complaint to final hearing determination in 2014 taking an excessive 100 weeks. Now the GDC has been granted new powers to come into effect from this summer, which will allow the organisation to appoint case examiners who can decide cases at an earlier stage that is presently possible.
Evlynne Gilvarry, Chief Executive and Registrar of the GDC, has termed this a ‘milestone’ for the GDC, and anticipates for the future ‘a more streamlined complaints system with timelier decisions, and with appropriate safeguards for both patients and dental professionals’.
The new powers will also allow the GDC to review closed FtP cases where it is believed to be in the public interest, where the decision may have been flawed, or in the event of new information. It is hoped this will make the system fairer and more transparent.