GDC Claims FtP Process Improvements; Indemnifier Disagrees
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- Published: Wednesday, 14 May 2025 08:54
- Written by Peter Ingle
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The GDC have recently published their annual Fitness to Practice (FtP) statistical report. Not every registrant may have the time to read the 50 page document, and recognising this the GDC have helpfully published a summary on their website as well as referring to it in their May 2025 “latest news and updates‘ mail-out to registrants.
Headed, “Efficiency improvements in Fitness to Practise” the GDC say that the report “shows meaningful improvements in case handling efficiency, with 76% of cases meeting assessment timeframe targets by the last quarter of 2024. We also added resources at the case examiners stage last year, and expect the backlog of older cases to clear by July 2025.”
Commenting on the figures Theresa Thorp, Executive Director of Regulation at the GDC, said:
"This year’s report continues our commitment to transparency in presenting robust data that can benefit the wider dental sector. We’re focused on using this data to help us identify any issues of discrimination, bias or racism in the reporting or referral of concerns to us.”
The report includes detailed timeframe analysis, showing that 54% of investigation stage cases were completed within six months in 2024, compared to 55% in 2023.
The GDC did note that, on average, 88% of cases were resolved before the case examiner stage, with only 12% progressing to a hearing before an independent practice committee.
At least one indemnifier did not share this rosy view of the GDC’s progress.
Dental Protection has said that too many GDC investigations are still needlessly going forward.
They have responded to the report by urging the GDC to review their assessment and triaging of FtP cases.
The statistical report revealed that 33% of cases in 2024 were closed by the case examiners with no action. Dr George Wright, Deputy Dental Director at Dental Protection said: “The relatively high number of cases that are dispensed with at the case examiner stage with no action suggests that the triaging is still not right, and too many cases are going forward. A more thorough assessment by the Assessment Team could reduce the number of cases referred and reduce the number of dental professionals needlessly dragged through the fitness to practise process.
“The data does not tell the whole story as to the frustrations and delays faced by dental professionals. It is disappointing that the case examiners did not meet the target of a decision within 13 working weeks in over 96% of cases in 2024.
Dr Wright reiterated that the GDC needed to significantly improve their performance. He quoted Dental Protection’s recent research which found that 82% of members who had been investigated by the GDC reported that it was the length of the investigation itself that impacted on their mental wellbeing the most.
“While we continue to campaign for the government to publish a timescale for reforming the out-of-date legislation that would give the GDC more discretion to close cases sooner, we believe the GDC needs to be more agile in getting resource in place given that this figure has not improved since 2022. We will continue to work with them to share ideas of where improvements could be made.”
There is another arguably more independent assessment of the GDC’s progress with FtP. Its own regulator the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) has found it failing to meet its standards for FtP in every one of its reports since 2012. If and when the GDC does finally manage to meet all of the PSA standards, then it will genuinely have some good news to share.
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