CHRE is critical of GDC’s delays

The Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence (CHRE), the over-arching regulator of the nine health regulators, has criticised the General Dental Council (GDC) in its annual performance report 2009/10. Although the CHRE acknowledges that it has been a challenging year for the GDC, they are concerned ‘with the time taken for cases to progress through its fitness to practise processes and the quality of its case management system.’ They also note that there are ‘some issues with the GDC’s performance.’ Alison Lockyer, GDC Chair The CHRE Report on the GDC reads: The General Dental Council has had a challenging year. It has restructured its fitness to practise and registration departments, has a new Council, an interim chief executive (from 15 December 2009) and begun a major review of its regulatory processes. We consider that the GDC has maintained a steady performance during these changes. However, we are concerned with the time taken for cases to progress through its fitness to practise processes and the quality of its case management system. We consider that these matters need to be addressed as a matter of urgency.We note that there are some issues with the GDC’s performance. We also note that the interim chief executive and new chair have rapidly identified areas for improvement and proposed changes to address these matters.We have expressed some concern that all decisions should be made through the proper process with the support of Council. We have been assured that this is the case. In last year’s report we highlighted four areas that we wanted to follow up. We consider that the GDC has made satisfactory progress on these areas: The revalidation pilot. The GDC has piloted stage one of the proposed revalidation scheme The implementation of the new education and training standards and its change of approach to quality assurance of education providers. The GDC is continuing with its fundamental review of its education standards and quality assurance process. It has engaged with stakeholders on its draft outcomes. The revised process for appraisal and assessment of fitness to practise panel members. The GDC is piloting its new appraisal system which is based on self, panel and peer review. The introduction of mechanisms for measuring and managing performance. The GDC has developed its Accountability and Performance Framework. A key element of the framework is the specification and use of success and performance indicators to evaluate organisational success and operational processes. It also clearly links the GDC’s strategic aims and operational activity to its key strategic outcome, the protection of the public. To see full report go to CHRE website http://www.chre.org.uk/ and click on Performance Review Report 2009/10.