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BBC highlights GDC’s problems
COMPLAINTS
A recent BBC Radio 4 documentary into the state of the General Dental Council (GDC) has reported that the regulator has been ”battling a backlog of serious complaints”. The programme highlighted the fact that in 2010, the latest year for which figures were available, 72 serious complaints out of 224 referred for investigation that year had not been dealt with after nine months. The GDC have since appointed a new chief executive, increased the number of hearings and hired more staff to cope with the backlog. However, the government wrote to the GDC’s own regulator the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence (CHRE) in September to investigate “whether the GDC may be failing in any way to fulfil its statutory functions”.
The investigation followed the resigna- tion of the GDC chair Alison Lockyer in May with the CHRE briefed with looking into: “The
Researchers looking at the survivors of head and neck cancers have found that up to half face a diminished quality of life, even after five years of survival.
The study, by the University of Iowa, concluded that a large percentage of long-term survivors of head and neck cancers have poor oral function, resulting in persistent eating problems and long-term depression.
fairness and proportionality of the processes adopted by the GDC in handling complaints about the former chair.”
CHRE chief executive Harry Clayton said: “The General Dental Council needs to refocus all its energy and attention on patient safety and the quality of dentistry. “That is its job and that is what it needs to do and it needs to put the resources, the time and the attention necessary to do that.”
More than half of respondents (51.6 per cent) reported problems with eating, while on average one in four survivors still experienced speech problems who lived for five or more years. It was a similar story when it came to a patient’s physical and mental health, with more than a third recording low functionality after the five year analysis.
News
Cancer survivors face poor quality of life STUDY
Scottish Dental magazine 15
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