I was asked to look at someone’s charge sheet for a GDC case the other day. It turns out they’ve been charged with not being perfect.
It’s a single patient case and the patient has not been harmed in any way, it’s hard to see that they’ve even been disadvantaged but they’re able to put forward a statement that suggests that the dentist has not been perfect and it would appear that they’ve been taken to a hearing on the grounds of ‘lack of perfection’
I guess the truth for all of us in any job we have, and I know this is the case for the GCD themselves, we’re not perfect. So if the rules insist that perfection is the minimum standard then we will all be criminals and rule breakers. The GDC has a procedural ‘get out clause’ called a Section 10 where they can bounce hearings back down the chain to committees because they’re unlikely to reach a positive outcome; if there’s not a significant chance and risk of a registrant being struck off or suspended from the register should it come to hearing at all.
It’s very easy to pick holes in people for not being perfect but very difficult to take the time, energy and intelligence to reach a compromise between the two parties, both of whom feel they’ve been wronged.
Blog Post Number - 1266
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