New guidance from the GDC on how its members, staff and others acting on its behalf should manage their other interests when undertaking their Council roles has just come into effect.
It is the first time in the UK dental world that a document on managing interests has been published.
The new guidance, Principles of managing interests, is a special edition in the Standards for Dental Professionals series, and came into effect yesterday (1 July). Its purpose is to remind each person involved in Council business of the need to question whether any of their interests may have an inappropriate influence on decisions that they make.
The GDC will keep a central register of the interests of members of the following groups:
• Council, all GDC committees and working groups;
• The Fitness to Practise Panel;
• Council-appointed inspectors and assessors; and
• The chief executive and registrar and other member of the Executive Management Team.
As well as helping to avoid potential conflicts of interests, the register can be valuable tool in helping ensure a person’s experience and background is drawn upon in the GDC’s work.
The register of interests will be publicly available at all GDC meetings and is available on its website, www.gdc-uk.org.
