GDC report on the dental professionals who died while fitness to practise concerns

Fitness to practise defence barrister Stephen McCaffrey discusses the GDC report on the dental professionals who died while fitness to practise concerns were investigated or remediated.

This recent report published this month makes grim and unhappy reading not only for the dental profession but for all healthcare regulators.

Clearly being the subject of an investigation by your regulator is a stressful experience for anyone, however current processes and the inordinate amount of time that most regulators take to progress matters impacts heavily and takes its toll on those individuals under investigations.

Whilst the decision to commission the report is commendable, details of what the GDC have agreed to work on in 2025 may be considered surprising. For example, they aim to improve communication and practical support for those under investigation and plan to be mindful of:

• Additional stressors and pressures are experienced by dental professionals when concerns are raised, for example, issues relating to employment.
• Feelings of stress and anxiety are likely to be experienced from the moment a dental professional has been notified that an investigation has been opened.
• Health and wellbeing impacts can permeate to those around the dental professional involved, which can also be an additional stressor.

Surely any regulator would already, as a basic principle, be mindful of the issues outlined above and would not need to have a plan in place to ensure staff are aware and, in essence, treat registrants with a level of compassion.

The previous report, ‘Experiences of GDC Fitness to Practise Participants’ published in 2022 made the GDC aware of issues in the process and that ‘the experience had a negative impact on the dental professional’s state of mind’ yet 2+years on, little has changed.

Furthermore, the engagement of stakeholders for this latest report is extremely limited and legal representatives of registrants involved in investigations and hearings have not been consulted.

Aside from registrants themselves, their legal representatives are uniquely placed to provide input that could inform meaningful change to Fitness to Practise proceedings as they are in communication at regular intervals with those processing investigations and deal almost daily with those under investigation and see at first hand the impact it has on their clients’ personal and professional life.

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