This is the first in a series of briefings exploring the process for fitness to practise investigations in detail. How does an investigation start? In the vast majority of cases, fitness to practise investigations begin when a complaint is made to the…
Whilst much has changed since the arrival of COVID, the law on informed consent, and the corresponding GDC standards remain the same. Consent is a frequent theme in both negligence claims and GDC investigations. COVID brings new challenges for dental…
Since July 2014 there has been a legal obligation on registered healthcare professionals to have indemnity cover for the work which they undertake.[1] This is intended to ensure that patients can be properly compensated in the event they are harmed…
“…. those who have simply come under suspicion by an organ of the state have, in general, a reasonable and objectively founded expectation of privacy in relation to that fact and an expressed basis for that suspicion. The suspicion may…
Figures requested by this firm under a Freedom of Information request to the General Dental Council (GDC) indicate that each year a large number of dentists and Dental Care Professionals (DCPs) are removed from the GDC Register for failure to…
The General Dental Council Fitness to Practice Rules provide for preliminary meetings to be held in advance of Practice Committee hearings so that a variety of case management function can be performed. Whilst such a facility is not uncommon amongst the…
On 1 May 2018, the General Dental Council (GDC) changed the process by which a complainant in fitness to practice proceedings can make comments on the observations filed by registrants in advance of assessment by the Case Examiners. The changes…
It has been a year of change for the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s fitness to practise process. There is now a single Fitness to Practise Committee, replacing both the previous Conduct and Competence Committee and the Health Committee. New powers and…
The first healthcare regulators report on whistleblowing was published on 11 September 2018, collating over 12 months of information from each of the 8 healthcare regulators.[1] What is the report and why was it commissioned? The report, designed to provide information in…
In late 2017, newly qualified Dr S had been out with a group of friends at the races to celebrate a friend’s birthday and his own graduation. This led to the group going to a nightclub and to Dr S…
