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There is a meeting this month in Manchester hosted by Eddie Sher where they have invited (or have accepted the offer) of two directors of the General Dental Council to speak regarding the new pathway document in dental regulation.

I had thought it was time for me to push my head above the parropit again and to go to this meeting and to hear what they have to say.

To ask some searching questions, not only about the regulatory process and how everything is supposed to be moving ‘up stream’, but also about the position of the Chair of the GDC; how he came to be there with no or limited experience in healthcare or regulation and how the GDC expects to gain the trust of the profession while he is till in post.

I thought about it long and hard, booked my place, re arranged a really tight schedule to get there and then sadly realized I was trying to catch water in a net.

I lead a professional life of such enormous privilege, not the privilege that you might imagine but the privilege of the people whose telephone numbers I have on my phone who I can call for advice, a discussion or a chat for information.

I called one of those people last night and explained that I had thought about going to Manchester and about the research that I had already done and the reading in relation to the meeting.

It’s not necessary for me to name the person here but thank you for your help and advice last night. They would know a lot about this subject.

The conclusion from the telephone conversation was that I would be better spending the time with my family.

I have shifted through all public documents available for the appointment process for the Chair of the GDC and I don’t like what the process looks. I’d love to be able to ask questions about why the registrants that are included in the final aspect for this were not selected but of course that’s confidential information and I can’t say that.

It seems clear, to me at least, that there was some desire to appoint a non-registrant to the Chair of the GDC and there was a purpose behind that.

Having scanned the other healthcare regulators the doctors have a doctor, the physios and a physio and the vets have a vet, we’re the only ones who do not have a healthcare professional as a Chair.

My intention was to ask some questions to the directors of the GDC and to explain to them that, based on the research I presented, that their actions had limited if any confidence in the Chair of the GDC.

This does not fall in with the concept of right touch regulation which you can read about in the consultation document from my previous blog here but in the end in discussions with my friend last night it was clear that the ‘charm offensive’ directors of the GDC are there to merely sugar coat an imposition of new rule.

Fitness to practice cases will be handled further ‘up stream’ dealing with them earlier with less sanctions and more cost effectively we’re told, but that is not my experience at the moment.

The directors of the GDC will be unable to confirm whether things will be better in two years or not because they have already been asked that question and have been unable to confirm it. In the end though this seems to be a well-orchestrated ballet and classic political movement making things terrible in a situation so that the alternative seems slightly better, even though it is much worse than it ever was before.

I will continue to maintain my position that the GDC should be chaired by a healthcare professional with a background in dentistry that understands the interaction between patients and clinicians.

I will continue to maintain my position that as a result of the leadership of the GDC over the past four years the profession has lost confidence in the regulator and the only way to start to regain that confidence is to appoint a dentally qualified chair of regulation.

I will continue to maintain my position at a profession that feels that it’s persecuted by over regulation will always practice defensive dentistry leading to further persecutions by over regulation.

It’s my belief that this is now contributing significantly to the manpower shortage in dentistry, which will lead to catastrophic reduction in the oral health of poorer people in the UK, and a further catastrophic reduction in the skills of the dental profession.

It’s all right for me isn’t it? I’m at the peek of my surgical powers in my mid 40’s with tens of thousands of surgical procedures carried out and a level of experience that I feel will be almost impossible for anybody graduating to ever require. I can monetize that and cash in on the position that I have but that will not help the millions of people at the bottom of the ‘food chain’ who have been affected by the man power crisis, the skill shortage and the scourge of over regulation.

Blog post number: 1453