Part 6 – The aftermath
If you would like to catch up with the rest of the blogs posts in this series then you can do so here, here, here, here, here, here and here. Read the case here
These blog posts were written just after a week after I received my Investigation Committee letter. Time to reflect and think about what comes next.
There is no question that during this whole fifteen months process there have been times when I would have given dentistry away; I would have given up and I sit in the ridiculous position at forty three where I could stop, train as a Triathlete and not go back to work again. That has come as a result of the privilege and rewards that dentistry has given me and the philosophy and lifestyle that was brought to my life by my wife. I could have ran wild, spending everything I ever had every month, but instead protected myself and my family. I mended the roof while the sun was shining and built myself an insurance policy.
So when you’re taken through this process, as horrible as it is and you have the opportunity to stop, why not? Why not sell up, let dentistry go and live a simpler life of training, family and friends. Why not? Because I was always astonished by the wonder of what I was able to do, because I was able to help people. I was able to take a skill that I had learned and try and make it better and in making it better, make other people better. That is a privilege and a gift and I don’t want to give that away. More importantly, I don’t want someone else to take that away, unless I am not fit for purpose.
In the midst of my fifteen months I reached the stage at times where I thought “If I’m not good enough for dentistry then so be it and I will go and do something else. I can make my success somewhere else” but that wasn’t true, it’s just where the process takes you.
I have been hugely privileged to be in a situation where I have an organisation that allows me to, not only look after patients, but to care for the people who work for me, to build a team and a work family who are talented, exceptional, funny, caring and very special. That’s what I want to do for the next thirty years; work with them to help our patients, to help the dentists who send us patients and to help the profession become better. To make sure we look better to the public, to make sure we care more about our patients, to make sure we care less about buying material objects as dentists and care more about buying things that help our patients and to also help each other.
Through the fifteen months, one of the greatest things that came out of it for me was the care and compassion shown to me by my colleagues who knew I was in trouble and I want to show that to other guys whenever I have the opportunity. I want to support people through this toxic environment and I want to take us to a better place where we invest in our teams, invest in our practices and make dentistry better and not just a ‘cash grab’ for an early retirement.
If that’s the legacy that the GDC has given me then it will be positive and will be something that pushes me on in my career but it is still entirely wrong that the process that started with good intentions to protect patients more than they were ever protected has swung so far to the other side that it’s damaging the dentists while trying to protect the patients. I believe that patients are now being utterly disadvantaged by the toxic environment in which dentists work. Dentists practice so carefully and defensively, so unwilling to do procedures which may affect patients adversely, so fearful of complaints or retribution that they practice within themselves instead of without themselves. This damages patients entirely and also addresses none of the problems that are in place from the larger organisations providing dentistry in the United Kingdom, which cause all sorts of issues.
Now I will try and push some of my energy in the direction to try and help change the process to try and reach a balanced situation which both protects the patients entirely but respects the dignity and personality of the dentists who are involved.
Thank you for reading these if you read them and thank you for sharing them if you shared them.
It is essential that we all use the opportunity to get our views across to Government. Please submit your responses to the Health Select Committee Accountability Hearing by 19th February here.
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