As you will know, our public protection role includes considering issues raised with us and deciding what needs to be investigated as a fitness to practise concern. We have committed to making improvements to our fitness to practise processes where we can ahead of regulatory reform, and are announcing today that we will be piloting a change to the way we make our initial inquiries when investigating clinical issues raised by a single patient.
We know our investigations can be complex and take a long time. They can have a significant impact on the health and wellbeing of those involved. Our recent research into the experience of fitness to practise participants also indicates that lengthy investigations, about what can be perceived as minor issues, can lead to feelings of mistrust and frustration in the process.
We want to ensure that we can conclude cases quickly by being fully informed of all relevant facts as early as possible in the process. But we will need the support and cooperation of dental professionals and the organisations that represent them if we are to succeed in making a positive change to our fitness to practise process.
The pilot will run for six months and will include all single patient clinical practice cases where the dental professional has no previous fitness to practise concerns, but may be expanded during the pilot. In these cases, we will be making an early request for specific information to help us make a fully informed decision, normally the patient’s clinical records. The aim is to improve proportionality and timeliness, which we hope will help to reduce the impacts of our investigations on the health and wellbeing of those involved.
Our ability to make a fully informed decision quicker will be reliant on early access to clinical records. We hope to work with the profession to resolve cases that do not pose a serious risk to public safety or confidence, as quickly as possible.
You can find out more about the initial inquires pilot in a blog post by John Cullinane, Executive Director, Fitness to practise, published today.