Dental Protection has noted with interest and some concern, the Professional Standards Authority’s Advice to the Department of Health following their investigation into concerns raised by the former Chair of the General Dental Council, Alison Lockyer.
The investigation had been given a very tightly circumscribed remit but nevertheless has yielded a report stretching to 250 pages, and has taken 21 months to complete since Alison Lockyer first raised her concerns at the time she resigned from the General Dental Council and from her position as its Chair in May 2011.
One cannot fail to be shocked and deeply concerned at some of the internal processes exposed by the report and surprised that the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence (CHRE), now the Professional Standards Authority could have found them acceptable. There can be few registrants who would want to have been placed in the situation that Alison Lockyer found herself in, and it is perverse that she would have experienced a much fairer process and far better legal protection as a registrant facing Fitness to Practise (FTP) procedures than she did as the Chair of the GDC.
The investigation was drawn into other areas, such as the upheavals within the GDC between 2009 and 2011, the massive turnover of GDC staff and the serious problems that beset the FTP procedures throughout that period. While highlighting a long list of failings, which were already well known to CHRE, it is disappointing that there is no mention at all of the impact of these training, procedural and administrative deficiencies upon the many registrants who had cases going through the FTP procedures – and especially its investigating committee – at the time in question. These registrants will naturally be left wondering whether their own cases were impacted upon by these serious deficiencies, of which they may not have been aware until now.
Kevin Lewis, Dental Director of Dental Protection, added, 'Clearly, the GDC is in a better place now than it was during the turbulent period which may have contributed in part to the events that are chronicled by this report. In particular, the early stages of the Fitness to Practise procedures have been heavily overhauled and this process of improvement is continuing. We welcome that, and also the spirit in which the GDC has acknowledged that all was not well when we first voiced our own concerns. Ultimately it is dental registrants who pay the price - professionally, emotionally and financially – when the GDC gets it wrong and it would be more helpful if that were to be publicly acknowledged.
As for the revelations regarding its internal processes, the GDC will no doubt be relieved that the passage of time and the introduction of some new and improved processes in the intervening period, will allow some distance to be put between these embarrassing events and the way in which it plans to conduct its affairs going forwards. Hopefully some important lessons have been learned, as we approach yet more reforms later this year when the Council shrinks to just 12 people, of whom only 6 will be registrants.'
Notes for Editor
- The inquiry by the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care was conducted in response to concerns raised by the former GDC Chair, Alison Lockyer who stepped down in May 2011. The report was published on its website yesterday (11 February 2013)