The DDU welcomes the Department of Health plans to reform the GDC’s fitness to practise (FTP) procedures.
Responding to today’s publication of the government response to the consultation Promoting professionalism, reforming regulation, which aims to reform healthcare regulators’ FTP processes and operating frameworks, Leo Briggs, deputy head of the DDU said:
‘We welcome the government’s undertaking to provide the GDC with powers to amend their procedures. FTP processes need to be more responsive and proportionate. We agree the GDC should be able to make a decision on a case without a panel hearing, if appropriate. It is good to see the government recognise that the current system is bureaucratic and time consuming and that it can be ‘burdensome and …stressful for patients, their families, registrants and employers’.
‘Currently it is stressful for most dental professionals and it has been clear for a long time the GDC needs the power to amend the FTP procedures in a more efficient way. Of course there will need to be safeguards and the GDC will need to continue to consult widely, as it does now, with organisations like the DDU that understand the procedures and the effect on members.’
