FGDP(UK) tells GDC to ‘put its house in order’

FGDP(UK)
The FGDP(UK) has told the GDC to ‘put its house in order’

The FGDP(UK) has rejected the GDC’s proposed ARF, claiming it’s placing the financial burned of its own failings on dentists.

The General Dental Council (GDC) has proposed to keep annual retention fees (ARF) at the same level they have been through 2015, £890 for dentists and £116 for dental care professionals.

However, the Faculty of General Dental Practice UK (FGDP(UK)) has claimed this rate is ‘extraordinarily’ high and it could not support this ARF, citing the GDC’s poor performance, the ARF being significantly higher than similar health regulators and a lack of explanation for the GDC doubling its caseload whilst the Care Quality Commission found dentistry to be safe, as the reasons for not supporting this.

‘The ARF is a symptom of the GDC’s unsatisfactory and overloaded Fitness to Practice process,’ FGDP(UK) dean, Mick Horton, said.

‘It is incredible that in a sector, which the CQC says provides safe, good quality care and presents a low risk to patients, seemingly one in 13 dentists each year now face a complaint that the GDC considers might call into question their continuing fitness to practise.

‘The Faculty’s primary concern is the safe and effective treatment of patients, and in the end it is patients who will suffer from the fact that the GDC has lost the confidence of dentists and is creating disillusionment and fear within the profession.

‘In proposing an ARF over twice that paid by doctors, three times that of opticians and pharmacists and seven times that of nurses, the GDC is placing the financial burden of its own failings on to the shoulders of dentists and dental care professionals, and we cannot support it until it puts its house in order.’

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