The GDC have published their latest updates for the month of June. This includes a reminder of the annual renewal for DCPs which opens on 7th June 2021.
To complete your annual renewal, you will need to:
For further details of the annual renewal process and to read the full bulletin, please click the following link
A new pay by instalments option for the Annual Retention Fee (ARF) has been announced by the General Dental Council today, designed to support dental professionals who pay their own fee by enabling them to spread the cost over the year with quarterly Direct Debits. For dental care professionals (DCP) this works out as four payments of £28.50 and for dentists it is four payments of £170.
To take advantage of the option in 2021, DCPs need to log in to eGDC from early May and select the quarterly Direct Debit option no later than 31 May 2021. The regulator is working to get this new option set up and says it will be in touch with DCPs when they are able to sign up.
GDC Chief Executive and Registrar, Ian Brack, says:
“We know that many dental professionals want more flexibility in how they pay the ARF and so we will be introducing a pay by instalments option. Detailed feasibility work has been completed and work is underway to make the necessary changes to our systems to allow us to offer this to DCPs this year.
“We expect this work to be complete by early May and DCPs who want to pay quarterly will then need to sign up by 31 May. Detailed guidance will follow nearer the time.”
Dentists who wish to pay their ARF by instalments will be able to select this option later in the year.
The General Dental Council (GDC) has today published several reports which provide statistics and examples of fitness to practise case handling undertaken during 2019.
The statistical report provides a quantitative picture of fitness to practise in 2019. In addition, the regulator has also published six short insight reports covering decisions at the initial assessment stage for quarters three and four of 2019, including spotlight reports on concerns relating to consent and record keeping.
The reports show that of all the concerns received in 2019, only 36% made it to a case examiner – the first stage at which a sanction may be imposed on a dental professional. The reports also reveal a further year-on-year increase in concerns raised by dental professionals, from 10% to 13% of the total, including ‘blue on blue’ cases – separate to those which are categorised as ‘whistleblowing’ by professionals.
Executive Director of Fitness to Practise Transition at the GDC, John Cullinane, said:
“What is clear from these reports is that the large majority of concerns received by the GDC are assessed and completed without sanction, but they also highlight that early engagement in the process will typically end in a smoother resolution to any concern that’s raised, which ultimately must be in everyone’s interests. The increase in referrals by registrants also highlights an important issue; while we of course need to avoid any discouragement of whistleblowing or the raising of serious issues affecting patient safety or public confidence, matters such as employment disputes or grievances – which we are seeing on an increasing basis – are not for the regulator to investigate or resolve.
“There’s some really useful insights to be gained here for dental professionals, particularly from the case examples in the short reports, so I’d encourage everyone to take a look.”
The full reports are available to read on gdc-uk.org.
Annual renewal and changes to the DCP register
While there are a number of processes and further actions that need to be completed following the end of the annual renewal period, early indications are that the number of dental care professionals who have renewed their registration for 2020/21 is broadly in line with what we have seen in previous years.
We understand that the pandemic and the efforts to suppress it have put a lot of people in a tough position this year and that considerable uncertainty about the future remains. We will continue to encourage anyone who has not felt able to renew their registration to get in touch to discuss their options.
CPD statements due by 28 August
We would like to thank all of you for completing your renewal, despite the current disruption, and for your continued commitment to your profession. For some of you, there is one further action you need to take, which is to make your annual or end-of-cycle CPD statement.
We have previously advised that if you have a shortfall in CPD hours, due to COVID-19, that we will be flexible in our response to the exceptional circumstances you’ve faced. This has not changed. However, it is now very important that you make your CPD statement by the 28 August deadline.
If you have a shortfall, either in relation to the 10 hours over two years rule or the number of hours you need to complete in a full cycle, please just record your hours in the normal way. After the 28 August deadline, we will be in touch to explain what will happen next and any further action you need to take.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at cpd@gdc-uk.org.
To view the full list of Augusts updates from the GDC please click here
The findings from independent research, which was designed to inform a better shared understanding of professionalism, have been published today by the General Dental Council (GDC). This publication marks a major milestone in the regulator’s programme to develop new ‘principles of professionalism’, which will also see extensive engagement with stakeholders.
Some key findings include:
Executive Director, Strategy, at the GDC, Stefan Czerniawski, said:
“Professionalism is important both to patients and to dental professionals themselves – but they don’t always mean the same thing by it. This new research makes an important contribution to the shared understanding of what it means to be a professional and to the development of principles of professionalism. It is also a crucial part of our increased focus on upstream regulation, which aims to prevent harm from taking place. I look forward to discussing the research findings with patients and professionals as the work continues.”
To read the full report visit gdc-uk.org
We understand that many of you have faced difficulties in accessing CPD this year, due to the restrictions imposed on us all, as the UK brought the COVID-19 outbreak under control. If you have concerns, please do not worry, as there is some flexibility built into the CPD scheme and we will not be penalising anyone who has a shortfall due to COVID-19.
The deadline to complete CPD for this year is 31 July, and your CPD statement needs to be recorded on your eGDC account by 28 August.
The Enhanced CPD scheme has some flexibility built into it. If you’re mid-cycle and did 10 hours of CPD in the previous year, you can submit a zero CPD hours statement this year. Further, if you only need a little more time to help you to deal with the exceptional circumstances you’re facing, and you are in the final year of your cycle, you can apply for a grace period to complete your CPD hours. You can do this by emailing in your request for grace before the 31 July. Granted grace periods provide an additional 56 days.
Please remember, in all cases, you must make a CPD statement by 28 August to complete the Annual Renewal process, whether or not you have a shortfall.
To find out more about the Enhanced CPD scheme, please visit our website. If you’d like to get in contact with us about grace periods or an expected shortfall in your CPD because of COVID-19, please email cpd@gdc-uk.org.
Responding to COVID-19: regulating in uncertain times
The central role which GDC has as a regulator is to protect patient safety and to maintain public confidence in dental services. The onset of COVID-19 doesn’t change that, but it is changing – and will continue to change – how we do it in practice.
We know the impact this is having on the profession and the level of challenge and uncertainty involved. Many questions and concerns still remain unanswered, not least on the level of support which may be provided by government. We don’t want to add to that uncertainty and concern, and hope that the information provided here helps you understand what actions we are taking to provide help and clarity where we are able to.
Our approach is based on two core principles:
That doesn’t mean that we can withdraw completely. There is still a vital role for regulation, and we are in any case limited in our ability to be flexible in some areas because of the constraints of the legislation under which we operate.
As we all know, circumstances are continuing to change rapidly. Our approaches will need to adapt as the situation changes, but we want to be as clear as we can be about how we are approaching the different areas of our work. So, the information below is as complete as we can currently make it, but it will inevitably need to be updated as the epidemic and its consequences unfold.
This email sets out the position of the GDC as at Monday 23 March 2020.
Professional judgement
Expert advice on the clinical aspects of COVID-19 will continue to come from the health authorities of the four nations. We cannot create that advice – our role will be limited to providing clear signposting to all the current guidance we are aware of. That guidance inevitably doesn’t cover every possible set of circumstances, so professional judgement remains key when making decisions about providing – or not providing – treatment. We do not expect any dental professional to provide treatment unless, in their professional opinion, it is safe to do so for both patients and the dental team.
For our part, we will expect dental professionals to keep themselves aware of current guidance and to make decisions informed by it, but we won’t be looking to second guess judgements made on that basis.
Continuing professional development (CPD)
As a result of the restrictions in place, we share the concern we have heard about potential difficulties in meeting CPD requirements for this cycle year. We know that many face-to-face CPD activities have already been cancelled and that will no doubt continue over the coming months.
The five-year CPD cycle already offers a lot of flexibility. There is no requirement for CPD to take a particular form and perhaps more usefully in the current context, it’s perfectly acceptable to submit a return of zero hours, if 10 or more hours have been recorded the previous year. Our records suggest that over two thirds of dental care professionals (DCPs) who are due to make a declaration this summer will meet the requirement on that basis. So, a good starting point is to check what’s already recorded on eGDC to see if there is an immediate shortfall.
We will look sympathetically at the circumstances of anybody who is still left with a shortfall for the declaration they are due to make this year. Of course, there are options other than face to face CPD and the CPD Provider Guidance is available on our website for anyone wishing to know what is required for a CPD activity to meet the verifiable criteria. But to be absolutely clear: nobody will be removed from the register because of a lack of access to CPD during the crisis period.
Please email us with any queries or concerns about this to cenquiries@gdc-uk.org.
Joining the register
Thousands of students will have been due to complete their professional training over the coming months and then to register with GDC. Teaching and assessment are being severely disrupted, but we have been working with education providers to ensure that as many students as possible can still have a smooth transition into practice. We, and they, have prepared a joint statement setting out our shared approach, which has now been published on our website. This statement includes relevant contact details.
Returning to the register
Many will have seen the appeals to doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals whose registration has lapsed to return to work, and we have been asked whether similar arrangements will be made for dental professionals.
The GMC has long had powers to give temporary registration in emergencies. The NMC, the HCPC and the social work regulators are being given similar powers in the emergency Coronavirus Bill, which is expected to pass through the House of Commons today. But the GDC doesn’t have – and is not currently in line to get – such a power, so as things currently stand the only route back onto the register which we can legally offer is by individual restoration.
We have been exchanging information with the Department of Health and Social Care on this, and it’s possible that that might change for the future, but that’s in their gift, not ours. We are though looking – within the constraints of the legislation – at whether we can streamline any of our processes and requirements.
Fitness to practise
Hearings
With the exception of the small number of cases, where there is an immediate perceived risk to patient safety, almost all fitness to practise hearings have now been postponed. We aim to run the urgent hearings remotely whenever possible so that we do not require participants to travel. We will contact all parties involved directly with information about how they participate.
Because we list substantive hearings up to nine months in advance, we will continue to schedule new referrals from Case Examiners. We will look to relist the postponed hearings once we are confident that we will be able to hold them in a safe and appropriate way.
Casework
This is not a time for fitness to practise cases to be a distraction – but even in current circumstances, people may have legitimate concerns, and it is important that they are able to raise them with us. If they do, the GDC is under a legal duty to investigate them. We will continue to record and make a risk assessment of new fitness to practise concerns and we will continue to progress new and existing cases as far as we can. As always, it’s worth remembering that a clear majority of cases are closed in the early stages of an investigation and only 15% of concerns are eventually referred to a practice committee for a hearing – so it’s in everybody’s interest not to leave cases hanging over registrants any longer than they have to.
Nevertheless, as far we can, we will keep requests for information to a minimum and in particular will avoid asking for information from the NHS unless there is an urgent, risk-based, need to do so. We appreciate that many people will have difficulty providing information to us for various reasons, and we will take a pragmatic and reasonable approach. If that’s likely to delay progress on a particular case, we will let all parties know and offer appropriate support.
Annual Retention Fee (ARF)
We are not yet clear on the government’s plans to support the sector and so it remains a real possibility that dental professionals will be under severe financial pressure in the coming months. Understandably, there are calls for us to waive the ARF payments which will be due from DCPs in July and from dentists in December.
We understand that dental professions are facing the likelihood of financial distress – however, that is not an issue that we able to solve by unilateral action. A solution to the financial pressure registrants are facing will require financial support from the government. Some of the provisions already announced by government to support businesses will have value for dental practices, and in some parts of the UK direct support has been given to NHS contract holders, but where appropriate we will join the discussion with government to help ensure that the particular needs and circumstances of all dental professionals, across both NHS and private practice, are understood.
What we can do and absolutely will do is continue to apply the rigour to our planning processes which allowed us to reduce the ARF for dentists last year by 24%. We will be looking again at our plans for the remainder of the year, with a view to delaying expenditure and stripping out cost.
Stefan Czerniawski
Executive Director, Strategy, GDC