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“BAD APPLES” AND OTHER PERPETRATORS BEHIND


PROFESSIONAL MISCONDUCT AN analysis of professional misconduct amongst health and care professionals by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) has found that not all perpetrators are simply “bad apples”. Researchers from Coventry University examined 6,714 fitness to


practise determinations from the PSA database covering doctors, nurses, social workers, paramedics and others. They identified three different types of perpetrator: the self-serving “bad apple”, the individual who is corrupted by the falling standards of their workplace, and the “depleted perpetrator” struggling to cope with the pressures of life. Cluster analysis was used to identify how different kinds of


“FURTHER IMPROVEMENT”


IN PERFORMANCE AT GDC THE General Dental Council has shown further improvement by meeting all but one of the 24 standards set down by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA). A PSA review found that in the year up to July 2017 the dental


regulator met all four standards for education and training, all four for standards and guidance, and all six for registration. It failed to meet just one standard for fitness to practise, which


related to information security. The improvements follow significant changes in the regulator’s


leadership, processes and organisational culture in response to PSA criticisms of their handling of a whistleblowing incident in 2013. The GDC’s Shifting the balance report, published in January, set out a three-year strategy to achieve a “better, fairer system of dental regulation”. Last year the GDC did not meet the PSA standard for prioritising


serious complaints when concerns were raised about how long it was taking to make decisions about interim orders. But this year they were found to be making decisions more quickly and assurances had been given about their risk assessment process. The report also noted the GDC has changed its registration


appeals process following concerns over how it was coping with a large volume of submissions. The time taken to resolve these appeals has now reduced from an average of five months to three. The report stated: “The GDC’s performance this year represents a further improvement since last year, when it met all but three standards in fitness to practise. We are pleased to note that the GDC has been able to build on the improvement that we reported on last year.”


misconduct group together for the different professions and the researchers also looked in more detail at cases involving sexual boundary violations and dishonesty. The aim of the research was


to offer a more nuanced multi-dimensional perspective of wrongdoings and offer recommendations to aid regulators and employers to improve detection of perpetrators and ameliorate the occurrence of these behaviours within health organisations. In analysing cases of


misconduct the researchers found examples of a typical group of “bad apple” perpetrators characterised by premeditated and strategic wrongdoing often involving either multiple offences against the same targets, or across multiple targets. In addition they also identified “bad barrels” arising in poor


workplace environments, which included inappropriate sexual talk/ behaviour within an informal organisational climate, or collectives which supported, for example, faking qualifications and references for staff members. A third group comprised individuals subject to the influence of


stress and strain in misconduct. The researchers cite recent studies showing that stress can increase an individual’s “moral disengagement”, which then increases subsequent levels of “deviance”. Lead researcher Professor Rosalind Searle said: “The findings from the study have much broader implications and go beyond the regulatory process. We look forward to discussing them widely, looking at how they can be used to support preventative interventions in future by regulators, employers, and others.”


MALE DENTISTS “OVER-REPRESENTED” IN FTP CASES


AN analysis of GDC data has found that male dental professionals were more likely to have been involved in a fitness to practise (FtP) case than their female


colleagues, as were older (over 30) registrants. These are just two findings from the first in-depth analysis of FtP data commissioned by the GDC, aimed at “assisting the organisation with its reform to become a better, fairer and more efficient regulator”.


The analysis, carried out in 2016 by Plymouth University Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry, also found that dentists were significantly


over-represented at all stages of the FtP


process compared to other registrant groups. Dentists coming onto the register having qualified in an EEA country


were more likely to be involved in an FtP case, but those entering via the Overseas Registration Exam were less likely to be involved compared to their UK qualified counterparts. The odds of having been involved in an FtP case were 22 per cent


higher for dental professionals identifying as ‘Asian’ or ‘Other’ compared to those identifying as ‘White’ but the researchers are careful to note that there are significant gaps in this data as it was provided on a voluntary basis. The GDC says the report reveals some important insights into the


types of FtP cases and the dental professionals appearing but it is “just one source of information in a complex landscape, and is not, on its own, able to establish the factors that are causing these findings”.


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