GDC Entrapment “An Egregious Act”
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- Published: Friday, 09 April 2021 17:46
- Written by Chris Tapper
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The British Association of Private Dentistry has criticised the General Dental Council for acting unlawfully when it used private investigators to entrap a clinical dental technician into acting outside his scope of practice.
In a press release, the BAPD called the incident “An egregious act that serves only to undermine further, the reputation of the GDC.”
It was reported earlier in the week, that Dental Protection secured an admission of guilt from the GDC when they acted for their member in the pursuit of damages and costs.
Len Biddle, an associate at BLM Law who was instructed by Dental Protection to recover legal costs from the GDC wrote on the BLM website that the scenario involved a “Fictitious elderly relative designed to invoke an emotional response and entrap a registrant to do something against their better judgment on compassionate grounds.”
The registrant was awarded undisclosed damages.
The BAPD said “We are aware that the GDC have recently taken steps to remedy the failings of the previous years with their document ‘Moving Upstream’, but the revelation that the GDC have acted unlawfully suggests that only lip service has been paid to the need to completely reform their processes.”
“Indeed, this unlawful act serves to suggest there is still a culture at the GDC that needs to be excised once and for all if it is to regain any credibility with the profession.”
“To further add insult to injury, registrant’s monies will have presumably been used to pay the damages in this case. In our opinion, this is certainly not an appropriate use of registrants funds. It will come as no surprise to the profession that we find the situation totally hypocritical; given that if a registrant were to have acted in a similar manner to break the law, then their very career in the profession would likely be ended by the GDC.”
“Action like this against a registrant is especially galling given the lack of action taken by the GDC in dealing with ‘Direct to Public’ suppliers of orthodontic treatment. If the remit of the GDC is truly to ‘Protect Patients’, then we suggest they direct their efforts towards clamping down on this dangerous practice.”
“We therefore call on the GDC to be completely transparent in the aftermath of this case, and to clearly make public to the profession what action has been taken to remedy this latest failing. We would expect this to include as a minimum what disciplinary action has been taken against those who have acted in such a manner as to bring the professional regulator into disrepute. We would also call for details of what action will be taken to reclaim the monies that have been spent on defending this case and paying the damages from those who have acted appallingly in this instance. Finally, we seek robust assurances that the GDC will act to deal with the increasing risk of Direct to Public supply of Orthodontic treatment.”
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