General Dental Council Turns Down GDPUK Request For Suicides Review

General Dental Council Turns Down GDPUK Request For Suicides Review

The General Dental Council has decided against carrying out an internal review after GDPUK questioned its decision to decline to answer a Freedom of Information Request on its investigation into the suicide of registrants undergoing Fitness To Practice Investigations.

In September, the GDC made the extraordinary claim that it doesn’t hold information on an investigation it is continuing to carry out into the relationship between registrants undergoing Fitness to Practise investigations and suicide.

In June, the GDC turned down a Freedom of Information (FOI) request from consultant orthodontist Dr Farooq Ahmed.  Dr Ahmed had asked the regulator for the number of registrants who have taken their own lives while under Fitness to Practise (FTP) investigations.

But after Dr Ahmed questioned the GDC’s response to his important request,  a letter to him from the regulator seen by GDPUK said that after adopting ‘an alternative way of extracting the information,’ the GDC  had carried out a document search on its database, using the search term ‘suicide.’

That search provided a staggering 6,753 results.

In its initial response to Dr Ahmed, the GDC said “There is no requirement for the GDC to be notified if a dental professional takes their own life and, because of this, we are unable to routinely capture when this has been the cause of a registrant’s death.”

“On occasion, this information is provided incidentally by a representative of the registrant, and in those cases, it is recorded on the casefile.”

“Due to the incidental nature this information is provided to the GDC, instances have not been recorded in such a way which would support automated reporting and so, to provide the information we do hold, would require an extensive manual search of all fitness to practise cases which have been closed since 2013.”

But a former GDC associate has told  GDPUK “If a GDC registered dental professional passes away (for whatever reason) during a GDC FTP investigation, then the investigation is obviously stopped.”

“However, to remove that individual’s name from the register, the Registrar is legally obliged to see a "true copy" of the death certificate. Whether this happens rapidly or later on, it seems clear that the GDC must in some way have the data.”

He added “Alternatively, the respective departments (FTP and Registration) do not communicate with each other.”

On the GDC website, the regulator asks for relatives or representatives of registrants who have passed away to inform the GDC of the individual’s name, birth and registration number, as well as an original copy of the death certificate.

The GDC told Dr Ahmed and GDPUK in September that it was investigating the information it held on its database.  

A GDC spokesperson said “We want to provide clarity on this important issue, but the information we currently hold is not sufficiently complete or robust for us to be confident in sharing in its current form.”

“We are already looking into what is possible, but this is not straightforward and there are important issues to explore in terms both of the quality and consistency of the data we hold and of the ethical issues around its collection and publication.”

“We look forward to providing an update on this work as it progresses.”

But when GDPUK asked the GDC to inform us on the progress it had made with its investigations, the regulator  made the extraordinary claim that it doesn’t hold information on the  investigation it is currently carrying out.

The GDC’s response to the Freedom of Information request by GDPUK to reveal the ‘nature of its investigations’ simply said “the requested information is not held.”

A GDPUK reporter challenged the GDC’s reply to his FOI request and made a request for the regulator to conduct an internal review.

He wrote “I must ask for the GDC to carry out an internal review into its response to my Freedom of Information request, since I really must question the veracity of the regulator’s response to my FOI.”

“The GDC has been engaged in an investigation into the relationship between the word ‘suicide’ on its database and its Fitness to Practise investigation processes since June 2022.  I fail to understand why the General Dental Council  does not hold information on the nature of this  investigation - in other words,  the basic features of its investigation.”

Refusal

But in the past few days, the GDC has refused to carry out an internal review.

On October 24th the GDC finally replied to the request made on September 21st.

The GDC briefly wrote “We have considered your request and our decision is not to conduct an internal review.”

“Our reasoning is that we have already undertaken appropriate checks with colleagues to establish whether information in scope of the request was held.”

The regulator added “We would like to inform you that the GDC expects to be communicating further about this important topic in the near future,” promising our reporter that its Communications and Engagement team “Have agreed to let you know once that has taken place.”

There has been widespread concern expressed on social media regarding the potential connection between registrants undergoing  FTP investigation and suicide.  

In September, Dental Protection urged the GDC to ensure the wellbeing of registrants undergoing FTP investigations.

Dr Raj Rattan, Dental Director at Dental Protection told GDPUK “There have been calls from across the profession for the GDC to be more transparent about the number of dentists and dental care professionals who die by suicide while under investigation.

“Day in day out we see how investigation processes impact on the professionals’ mental health, alongside the effects on their family and career.”

“Fitness to practise investigations often take several months - and sometimes years - to conclude. A hearing itself can last several days if not weeks, the press can attend and report on the case throughout which can create long term reputational damage and a sense of shame for the dentist. Consequently, the whole experience can be traumatic irrespective of the outcome.”

“The GMC (General Medical Council) has moved to publish more information about the number of doctors who die by suicide while under investigation and has also made improvements to its processes in recent years in order to reduce the impact of investigations on doctors’ wellbeing and mental health. While this work is far from complete, this does show that progress is possible and we would welcome similar action being taken by the GDC.”

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