Challenging times at the GDC
Te General Dental Council has faced recent criticism from various quarters – not least for
proposed plans to hike its annual retention fee by 64 per cent. Here chief executive and registrar Evlynne Gilvarry addresses some of the issues
Osteopathic Council and before that she held senior policy and management roles at the Law Society.
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The GDC is proposing a 64 per cent rise in the annual retention fee for dentists. Why such a steep increase and why now? We have very clearly set out in our consultation document that in the absence of an increase we will not have enough income to undertake core statutory functions. Te ARF was last increased in 2010. Since then fitness to practise (FtP) complaints to the GDC have increased by 110 per cent. Without further significant investment in our FtP processes we will be unable to deal effectively with the very large increase in our caseload and so we must make adequate provision. Fitness to practise is the most expensive area of our work. If a
case reaches a hearing, the cost is around £19,500 per day and the length of a hearing ranges from a third of a day to 35 days. We have had to recruit more casework staff and more FtP panellists to clear a backlog of cases and to process new cases faster.
Can you understand the anger among dentists with the fee rise given the recent Professional Standards Authority review in which the GDC failed to meet seven out of 10 good regulation standards in fitness to practise? We regard failure to meet the PSA’s standards as entirely unacceptable so we accept criticisms on this score. We want to reassure the profession that all our efforts are focused on tackling the problems that have resulted in us missing standards. We have increased resources to deal with the continuing surge in caseload and made other key changes to improve the performance of our teams. Te achievement of a much better performance in fitness to practise is the number one priority.
What are the reasons behind the delays and other problems the GDC is encountering in the management of fitness to practise processes? Tere are two key factors that have put pressure on our fitness to practise function. First, the very large increase in complaints we’ve received. Te scale of increase over the last three years – 110 per cent – is a very significant departure from the patterns of the past.
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QUALIFIED lawyer and mediator, Evlynne Gilvarry became chief executive of the General Dental Council in 2010. Prior to that she had been chief executive of the General
Large increases in three successive years have inevitably resulted in pressure on our teams and it has been difficult to recruit and retain staff in sufficient numbers to handle the load. Secondly and most unfortunately, we have not yet secured the
legislative change that is necessary to improve our outdated procedures. We had hoped that new legislation, enabling wide-scale change to our procedures would have been in the Queen’s Speech earlier in the summer, but this was not the case. Te Department of Health recognises that our legislation is out of
date. Indeed, by an accident of history, the GDC’s legislation is even more antiquated than that of other regulators, particularly regarding fitness to practise. Although wholesale change is some way off we are working with the Department of Health on an interim change – the introduction of case examiners – which will help us to streamline and speed up the initial stages of fitness to practise. We hope to see the change in place by the middle of 2015. Te introduction of case examiners will not only allow us to improve the way we handle cases but will also save us up to £2m a year.
How are you working to reduce the costs of fitness to practise procedures? We are doing a lot to reduce FtP costs, primarily through a two- strand strategy. We are achieving greater value and significant savings through tighter management of the contracts with our external law firms. We have also significantly reduced our reliance on external firms and correspondingly our costs through the appointment of an in-house legal team. Tis process started in January 2014. We estimate that this team – by handling up to two thirds of our legal work – will save £1.2 million per year from 2015. Te next phase of the in-house development is to do advocacy in- house. We currently use an external team of barristers. Tis change will save even more money and we plan to have our in-house team of advocates in place by the end of the year. Tis will result in a 44 per cent saving on barristers’ fees.
Why do you think complaints against dentists reported to the GDC are rising? Firstly, I think the GDC, in common with other regulators and public bodies, is experiencing the effects of a more informed and demanding public. We are doing more research with patients and the public to learn more about motivation for complaining.
SUMMONS
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