Column
BDA dispatches Enough
with Mick Armstrong H
owever you feel about the outcome of the refer- endum vote, it has energised Scotland’s engagement in the democratic process in a way
that politicians in the rest of the UK can only aspire to. Is the GDC’s gross mishandling of its
consultation on fee-level setting for next year the dental equivalent? In all my years as a practising dentist, I have never seen the profession galvanised and united like this – against the regulator they regard as, frankly, unfit for purpose. Opinion that dentists across the UK
have of their regulator is reflected in the motions of no-confidence that were passed unanimously by both the Scottish and the General Dental Practice Committees (as reported elsewhere in this journal). That’s in addition to the unprecedented numbers – more than 4,000 responses – who took part in the GDC’s consultation on the annual retention fees (ARF), with 93 per cent rejecting plans to increase dentists’ fee by 64 per cent. The deep frustration the profession
feels towards the GDC is palpable at any gathering of dentists I attend, regard- less of country boundaries, and raises fundamental questions about a regulator which already fails to provide value for money. Registrants are angered at having to pay outrageous sums to make up for the GDC’s failure to handle its fitness- to-practise cases fairly, efficiently and effectively. The GDC has also refused to answer all of the BDA’s questions
about financial discrepancies in the figures it used to calculate next year’s ARF: this is unjustifiable. The BDA commissioned economic
experts, FDI Consulting, to carry out a forensic examination of the regulator’s business case: they found it difficult to make the sums add up. We told the regu- lator, and it dismissed us, although it has since engaged KPMG to reanalyse its figures. There’s some mystery about this, since the regulator adamantly refuses to tell registrants the terms of reference it has given the accountancy firm for this work. In light of this, together with inconsist- encies we found in its policy statements on
is enough Time for courts to decide in a row that has inflamed the profession
“The deep frustration felt towards the GDC is palpable”
the ARF, we believe the regulator should have either called a halt to the consulta- tion, or extended it by a month, so that those who wanted to take part would have had the necessary information to make an intelligent and informed response to the questions asked. After all, it is our money that pays the bills at the GDC. We have given the GDC every opportunity to demonstrate that it has built a reasoned, evidenced and lawful case for a super-sized fee rise. It has chosen not to respond. Enough is enough, and now the courts will decide. We have asked lawyers to expedite our judicial review, so dentists know where they stand when fees become due at the end of the year. Just as a week is a long time in politics,
events concerning the ARF may have changed by the time this column appears (the GDC was due to make its decision on the fee on 30 October, after Scottish Dental went to press). In the unlikely scenario that the GDC has had a Damascene conversion, one thing that won’t change is the BDA’s determination to fight for fair fees and decent regulation for our members.
Scottish Dental magazine 21
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