BDA and FGDP(UK) slam GDC’s ARF decision
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- Published: Tuesday, 24 November 2015 07:32
- Written by News Editor
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The British Dental Association (BDA) has slammed the GDC’s decision to keep the ARF at an historic high of £890. It was joined by FGDP(UK) which also expressed disappointment. The GDC said they had a ‘long-term ambition of reducing the ARF as improvements and efficiencies to dental regulation are realised’.
BDA chairman Mick Armstrong said: “The GDC seems determined to cling to its status as the most expensive and least effective health regulator in Britain. Certainly neither of the fee options that were on the table today ever threatened to take its crown away. Starting to bring registrants’ fees in line with comparable professions could have sent the clearest possible signal that lessons have finally been learned. Instead what we saw was a regulator so wedded to past mistakes that it even dispensed with fig leaf cuts.
“The GDC’s whole approach to fees is borne of choice not necessity. It is supporting a strategy and a mentality that will see the regulator continuing to operate well beyond its legal remit. We needed to see evidence that the GDC was prepared to focus on its day job, and reengage positively with the profession. Today proves we have a regulator incapable of delivering on needed change, and just why we have a responsibility to challenge its failed leadership and failed governance whenever we see it.”
The Faculty of General Dental Practice UK has expressed its disappointment at the GDC’s decision to retain the 2015 annual retention fee (ARF) in 2016. FGDP(UK) Dean, Mick Horton, said: “The FGDP and other representative bodies were clear and unanimous in their rejection of retaining 2015’s ARF into 2016, and we are disappointed that the GDC appears still not to be listening to the concerns of dentists and dental care professionals. Dentists provide safe, good quality care and present a low risk to patients, but unfortunately have a poorly-performing regulator, which appears to be focussed unnecessarily on growing its reserves, rather than giving its Fitness to Practise processes the radical overhaul they need. The GDC has a specific remit as a regulator, and by acting outside this remit it is attempting to justify its unnecessarily high fees. Having to pay fees double those of doctors, three times those of opticians and pharmacists and seven times those of nurses will do nothing to improve the Profession’s confidence in the GDC, and the FGDP is concerned that in the end it may be patients who suffer as a result of the GDC’s actions”.
Commenting on today's decision, Chairman of the General Dental Council Bill Moyes, said: "We are grateful for the time that many people have set aside to give us their views and we recognise the strength of feeling expressed by many dentists and dental care professionals. We hope the improvements to the GDC's procedures that will be seen in 2016 will go some way to address that strength of feeling. We look forward to working with our partners in achieving our ambition to improve value for money, efficiency and effectiveness, and in ensuring that the system for handling complaints, concerns and feedback is as streamlined as it can be with the most appropriate body dealing with issues that are appropriate for them."
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