50 shades of G.R.E.Y
I bid you all a good day. Those of you that have read “the books” will have no doubt pondered the extracurricular uses of a dental dam and floss for example. This weekend of course see the film emerge – regarded by many as a rather poor representation of the book, in itself not exactly a literary classic, I am told by others you understand …
But we dentists know better . Relax, it’s not the aesthetic dentistry shade guide!
You see, its a little known fact: GREY stands for GDC Regulatory Examination for You
This week sees the 2015 Accountability Hearing with the General Dental Council by the Health Committee of the House of Commons. [1]
You have 4 days to respond
This is very much the Headmaster’s Interview.
Now do not get over excited - this is not going to be passionate demonstration of Parliamentary S&M as the Chief Executive of the GDC is tied up and verbally thrashed by rabid members of the committee.
You only have to explore, for example a past accountability hearing of the GMC or the 2014 Accountability hearing with the Health and Care Professions Council to realise much of it will be affirmation of what has been undertaken on behalf of Parliament. An Annual Report to Stakeholders. There is a danger that the men and women in grey will merely spend the day formally noting this and noting that. The stench of white emulsion may well fight the colour sense of a very dull affair. Potentially grey indeed.
UNLESS YOU ACT …
We dentists and our teams must use this opportunity to raise the GDC up the Parliamentary agenda. At the end of this hearing it should be clear that the Health Committee are examining a failed organisation with a runaway budget, and absolutely no idea about how to organise FtP. The Committee should be under no illusion that the profession regulated by the GDC is running scared and disengaged in the extreme, while the report from the Professional Standards Authority could have used one word to describe the GDC: Useless.
Proper calling to account of the GDC simply will not happen if we allow The GDC’s presentation team to smooch their way under the skin of the Committee unchallenged in any way.
UNLESS YOU ACT …
We, as registrants, must assume that the BDA, Dental Fusion, and other professional representative bodies are submitting some solid evidence. If you are a member of Dental Protection or the DDU and MDDUS you may assume these widely respected bodies, which are in the thick of FtP, will be presenting heavy hitting material of their own. If you want to be sure, ask your Indemnifier! One would like to think that the FGDP[UK] also will rise to the challenge.
There really is only one major area of concern that the profession has about the GDC – it is the abject mismanagement of Fitness to Practice and its cost implications allied to the inevitable. but unwanted, change to excessively defensive practice.
No one is suggesting there is not a task to be undertaken. But the sheer crassness of assuming every banal criticism reflects a wider risk to the public which must be aired expensively and in public beggars belief. If like me you read the Charges are of the GDC website, [2] I am sure you cannot fail to agree that many of the cases simply are not worthy of a full FtP process at £78000 of YOUR money PER DAY …
UNLESS YOU ACT …
If you have an experience of FtP I must ask that on behalf of your colleagues you summon up the strength to report your experience to the Health Committee as I am sure Mr Colin Campbell may well do. Please do read and share his blog [3] As if by serendipity, as this Health Committee is meeting a colleague, Mr Colin Campbell, is beginning to publicly reflect upon his most extraordinary experience at a full GDC hearing. The sheer injustice is almost mediaeval in magnitude. And to think that many of our colleagues sit upon the panels. Whether they are part of the problem of course is a separate debate.
If one event appears to demonstrate all that is wrong with the GDC and its massive problems this case might be it.
If you live in fear of that letter from Wimpole Street and feel FtP is an issue, write to the Health Committee.
UNLESS YOU ACT …
Keep it brief. Keep it factual. Keep it succinct and to the point. But please: communicate . The Committee’s guidance on a submission may be read here. [4]
This Accountability Hearing does present our best opportunity since the ARF Court Case [which despite the GDC claims, I seem to think they lost!] to flag to the Health Committee the many concerns we have as registrants. I suspect we might have to remind the HC of this Court Case if we judge by the GDC Chairman’s e-mail and his failure to mention it!
Do not count upon the GDC to present anything but a self-congratulatory review imbued with a warm rosy light .
If the Health Committee are to gain a true measure of the profession wide disbelief and anger, you have a small but essential part to play.
Remember that cheque you wrote before Christmas … the £900 odd pounds one ….
It’s payback time
50 Shades of Grey …. More like a Multi Coloured Swap Shop of stories of disgraceful Regulation in action. Now I am showing my age ! [5]
The deadline for submitting written evidence is 5.00pm on Thursday 19 February 2015
It’s the GDC Regulatory Examination for You
UNLESS YOU ACT … YOU RISK THE GDC GETTING AWAY WITH IT.
It will be you that goes 50 shades of grey if you get a letter.
Web References
[1b]http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200102/cmstords/27519.htm
152.—(1) Select committees shall be appointed to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the principal government departments as set out in paragraph (2) of this order and associated public bodies.
[2] http://www.gdc-uk.org/Membersofpublic/Hearings/Pages/Hearings-list.aspx
[3] http://colin-campbell.co.uk/index.php/2015/01/gdc-persons-view-process-part-1/
· Guidelines
· To successfully make a submission via the online form on a committee’s website, documents need to:
o Be less than 25 MB in size
o Be in Word (doc, docx, rtf, txt ooxml or odt format, not PDF)
o Contain as few logos or embedded pictures as possible
o Contain no macros
o Comprise a single document. If there are any annexes or appendices, these should be included in the same document.
o It also assists the committee if those submitting evidence adhere to the following guidelines. Each submission should:
o State clearly who the submission is from, i.e. whether from yourself in a personal capacity or sent on behalf of an organisation, for example the submission could be headed ‘Written evidence submitted by xxxxxx’
o Be concise – we recommend no more than 3,000 words in length
o Begin with an executive summary in bullet point form of the main points made in the submission
o Include a brief introduction about yourself/your organisation and your reason for submitting evidence
o Have numbered paragraphs
o Include any factual information you have to offer from which the committee might be able to draw conclusions, or which could be put to other witnesses for their reactions
o Include any recommendations for action by the Government or others which you would like the committee to consider.
[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-Coloured_Swap_Shop
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