Fitness to practise investigations have ‘significant’ negative impact on mental health, says GDC report

Fitness to practise investigations have 'significant' negative impact on mental health, says GDC report

A new GDC-commissioned report into fitness to practise investigations found they had a ‘significant negative impact’ on individuals – despite being ‘largely fair and effective’.

The independent qualitative research, commissioned by the General Dental Council to understand and learn from the experiences of 70 individuals involved with fitness to practise, was published today.

The research looked at historical cases dating from 2015 – 2021. It found that, although outcomes were seen as largely fair and effective, there were often significant negative impacts reported on the mental health and wellbeing of participants.

As a result, says the GDC, this could have unintended consequences for professional behaviour and practice.

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Challenging work

GDC executive director of fitness to practise, John Cullinane, said: ‘We know that fitness to practise investigations can be stressful and that many take too long to resolve, with some becoming complex and adversarial.

‘Much in this report reinforces our view on where improvements are needed. Its findings have confirmed our thinking on the best way to go about effecting that change.

‘This work will be challenging. But improvements have already been made. For instance, by always encouraging local complaint resolution, we’ve seen a reduction of almost 1,200 concerns being brought to us in the six years to 2021.

‘We increased the capacity in our casework team at the beginning of the year and are now starting to see the benefits of that change, and earlier this year we launched the Dental Professionals Hearings Service to highlight the independence of panels and hearings from the GDC.

‘Only reform of our legislation can bring the kind of wholesale change which is so clearly needed. But, in its absence, if we are to continue improving fitness to practise, we must go on making repeated incremental changes to improve the process and experiences of those involved, and this is very much our plan.’

The full research report, and further information from John Cullinane, are available on the GDC’s website.

Urgent changes needed

Leo Briggs, deputy head of the DDU, said: ‘We welcome the GDC carrying out research into fitness to practise (FTP) processes.

‘The findings – that the process takes too long, can be viewed as disproportionate and affects dental professionals’ health and wellbeing – are borne out by our own experience of supporting dental professionals at the GDC.

‘The research also found that most participants felt frustrated and dissatisfied with the FTP process.

‘What we need now is for the GDC to take concerted action to restore registrants’ faith in the procedures. We have been campaigning for the government to urgently introduce the legislation needed so that the GDC can overhaul and modernise its FTP processes.

‘But we also wish to see changes made in the meantime – for example, there is an overwhelming need to speed up the time it takes to investigate cases. This will help to relieve the stress on dental professionals undergoing fitness to practise investigations.

‘We will continue to work with the GDC to discuss these and other improvements.’


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