FIRST PERSON


burn


she could have been recompensed for her remedial treatment and the only reason she referred the issue to the GDC was because no one was listening to her complaints. I was angry that the issue had not been dealt with better but also felt guilt, shame and disappointment that I had let one of my patients down. Te GDC conducted an investigation


and then in 2013 they asked for records of patients that I had treated since returning to work in 2012. Tey picked up on a number of issues with some of the patients, such as absent or inadequate BPEs and subsequent periodontal treatment, missing radiographs and poor record keeping. It was decided that there was enough cause to investigate my fitness to practise. One thing I have learned in all of this is


that anger is just wasted energy. Tere was certainly no time to feel sorry for myself so I resolved to prove my ability as a dentist to everyone. Once I realised remediation was an option I decide to immerse myself completely in the process. I accepted I needed to change. It’s sort of like being an alcoholic – until you realise you have a problem you don’t seek help.


Dark focus My MDDUS adviser helped me devise an action plan to respond to the GDC criticisms. It was a long process. I produced lots of audits of the patients I was seeing. I would present them to the adviser and my appointed mentor thinking they are great and then they would point out the deficiencies. An audit that had taken two or three months to prepare would be shredded and I would have to do it again on a different set of patients. It was frustrating but I just had to get on with it. Te MDDUS adviser also put me in contact with an educational tutor at the


SUMMER 2015


NHS who helped with my remediation plan – that was before the GDC case. We looked at postgraduate courses relevant to my action plan and I attended these before I went back to work. I also did CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) but the one course that had the biggest impact on me was called Surviving the Human Zoo. It is designed to help professionals understand the implications of stress and occupational burnout and how to avoid this or reduce its effect. Tinking about the years before 2011, I


didn’t realise how low I was. I ticked all the boxes for burnout. I dreaded going into work in the morning. I would look at my day list and there would always be


“One thing I have learned in all of this is that anger is just wasted energy”


something that worried me more than anything else. I ended up focusing on the dark side of everything: if I was going to be taking a tooth out it might break, or if I was doing root treatment it wouldn’t be straightforward. Driving home from work became the best part of the day. Te CBT helped explain why I had


ended up where I was but it didn’t really explain it all for me. And that’s where Surviving the Human Zoo helped. It made me realise that how you react to major life events is dictated by your personality and not by the event itself. Your personality is how you are wired. So you don’t try and change someone’s personality you allow for their personality. People like me need to feel in control and before 2011 I had lost


control in my work situation. One thing that causes a lot of stress for


me is facing a task but not having enough time to do it. Now in the salaried service I have the opportunity to book an hour-and- a-half appointment to do endodontic work. I wouldn’t be able to do that in private practice.


Born again Looking back, it was only aſter the GDC case concluded that I realised how much that whole process had been in my thoughts every day, probably every minute. Te MDDUS dental and legal advisers were brilliant and hugely supportive, especially initially when the complaint arose. I was very embarrassed by some of my X-rays and the lack of detail in the records but at no point were they judgmental. Te process has made me a very


defence-minded dentist. I do everything by the book and record absolutely everything. I am not religious but I’m kind of like a born-again Christian. I have a second chance at work that I thought I would never get and I’m enjoying it again. I am also much more aware of life-work


balance. Tere was one morning I was driving to work and I came up over a hill and there was a glorious sunrise in the mist. It was the perfect picture. So I stopped to look at it. I carried a camera for a week waiting for it to reappear but it never did. It just made me think how in the past


issues at work had become the most dominant thing in my life. Now I was enjoying being a dentist and I would certainly miss it if I had to stop – but it’s not the be-all and end-all.


n As told to Jim Killgore 19


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