Trust and Transparency GDC style
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- Published: Wednesday, 10 April 2024 10:59
- Written by Peter Ingle
- Hits: 912
A seasoned campaigner for GDC transparency has submitted a series of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to the regulator on the subject of registrant suicides. Very recently he submitted a new FOI simply asking if the GDC ever intend to publish the results of their suicides ’research project.’ That project has been the eventual response to the ongoing demands to know how many registrants have taken their life during the GDC’s Fitness to Practice process.
The GDC usually take the full 20 working days to reply to an FOI, but within 48 hours there was a response. It was that the GDC considered his enquiry as a question rather than as a request for recorded information. They wrote back: “Therefore, this query cannot be considered as a Freedom of Information request.”
The enquirer was then referred to the recent blog posted on the GDC website by Executive Director, Strategy, Stefan Czerniawski. The blog in question, entitled, “Transparency, trust and improving the fitness to practise process” was recently covered by GDPUK (GDPUK #357)
It does not answer the question that had been raised.
The enquirer wrote back to the GDC, repeating his question and adding that the recent blog post on transparency and trust had not been particularly informative, since it provided no extra information regarding the GDC’s ’research project’ into the deaths of registrants undergoing FtP investigation. In essence, it repeated remarks made by Stefan Czerniawski, almost a year before, in May 2023.
He then asked: “Will the General Dental Council simply release the raw data it has collected during its research project?” He pointed out that names were not required by the profession or public, nor details of how the registrants had lost their lives. He added that the GMC was able to release similar data, promptly. The enquirer observed that many dental professionals had concluded that the GDC was employing delaying tactics in order to avoid releasing information that might show it in a bad light.
A day later he received his reply: “The blog post previously provided outlines the work we are doing in this area, confirms what data will be released and the timescales for the release. We have nothing further to add to this at this time.”
Stefan Czerniawski has just written about “Trust and Transparency.”
His recent blogpost was quietly released on the GDC website. It has not been referenced on the GDC X account, even though they have been looking to raise their social media profile.
The release of the Executive Director’s blog was carefully timed to occur shortly after a large dental gathering, the BDIA exhibition, and just before a long Bank Holiday.
A good day to bury no news.
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