The General Dental Council is publishing its document Moving Upstream, providing an update on progress made over the past year.
It was launched on the 30 January at what the dental regulator is promising will become an annual conference.
The report measures progress against some commitments made in Shifting the Balance and highlights priorities for the year ahead.
‘One of the main reasons for today was of course to share the report,’ speaking after the event, GDC chair, Dr William Moyes, said.
‘But equally important for us was to be part of a rich debate and hear the points of view which came from all sections of the audience, including from members of the public.
‘Since Shifting the Balance, we’ve invested significant time and effort to enhance how we engage with all of our stakeholders.
‘But this is the first time the GDC has produced a publication and conference like this.
‘We are looking forward to returning next year.’
Shifting the Balance
The GDC has come under fire recently for maintaining its high annual retention fee compared with other health regulators.
In 2017, the regulator outlined its future plans in a document called Shifting the Balance.
The council explained that its aims with the plans were to ‘shift the focus from enforcement to prevention’.
‘It’s a lot of ideas, a lot of proposals, which are the result of a lot of hard work looking at the organisation and regulation,’ Ian Brack, GDC chief executive, explained.
‘We’ve identified areas where there are levers that go far outside the GDC.
‘These can effect change going right the way from prevention, joint working, first tier resolution and our own processes.
‘That’s what Shifting the balance sets out.
‘It identifies areas where we think other people can do things that will change the regulation landscape.’
Specialist listings
The GDC is seeking your views in its new consultation on specialist listings, launched at the conference.
The consultation, which closes on 25 April, is looking for thoughts on the GDC’s approach in three key areas.
These areas are:
- Revised purposes for specialist listing, setting out what the GDC expects listed specialties to fulfil, and the criteria by which the regulator will determine which disciplines of dentistry should be listed
- The principles for the process of addition and removal of specialist lists
- The GDC’s processes for maintaining accreditation on specialist lists.
‘This consultation explores the key areas relating to our role in specialist listing,’ Manjula Das, head of education policy and quality assurance, said.
‘It represents a vital step in helping us to provide clarity and support to the public and profession in understanding specialties.
‘The information we receive will also help us to future-proof our approach and improve transparency.
‘The proposals in this consultation have been developed in collaboration with the wide range of professional stakeholders.
‘They sit on our Specialty Working Group.
‘I would like to thank them for their hard work in helping us to reach this point.’
For more information and to provide your views on the proposals, visit the GDC’s consultations webpage.
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