The General Dental Council is today launching its new ‘Standards for the dental team’ to help patients gain a clearer understanding of the care they should be receiving from their dental professional. They outline the importance of a complaints procedure and what happens if the standards aren’t met. The standards contain nine principles and a dental professionals’ performance or behaviour will be measured against these if a complaint is made.

The number of complaints received by the GDC increased by 44% from 2011 to 2012, with 2,274 cases received in 2012, compared to 1,578 cases received in 2011. As of the end of Q2 2013, 1,441 complaints had been received. In addition 33 dental professionals were struck off the register last year.

The new guidelines, mapped out against the recent Francis Report into the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, put a particular emphasis on the culture and values of the profession.

They were drafted off the back of research which showed that of the patients who have considered complaining about someone in the dental profession, almost 30% didn’t know where to start, more than a quarter didn’t know how to get the information they needed and a fifth didn’t believe their complaint would be investigated.

A key part of the new ‘Standards’ is clarity on costs. Recommendations about being much clearer on how much a course of treatment will cost were made clear in last year’s OFT report into the dental industry.

The new Standards are now one document listing the nine principles, standards and guidance.

 

They are set against a very different regulatory landscape in the light of key reports such as the Robert Francis QC inquiry into the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust. He placed great emphasis on the patient’s right to know who to complain to.

 

They also take into account a new way of working for dental care professionals, such as hygienists and therapists, through “direct access”. This means they can see patients directly, without prescription from a dentist.

 

The ‘Standards’ signpost supplementary guidance sheets covering indemnity, prescribing drugs, use of social networking and reporting criminal convictions.

 

The GDC has expanded on the meaning of “putting patients interests’ first” to include the need to treat patients as individuals and without discrimination; and the need to take a holistic and preventative approach to patient care which is appropriate to individual patients.

 

Principle 2: ‘Communicate effectively with patients’. This includes the new requirement that all registrants are sufficiently fluent in written and spoken English to not just communicate with patients, but with other healthcare professionals. In addition it details that patients MUST be able to see a simple price list a reception or waiting area.

 

Principle 4: ‘You must not post any information or comments about patients on social networking or blogging sites.

 

Principle 5: Make sure there is an effective complaints procedure readily available for patients to use, and follow that at ALL times. In addition Principle 1 states: You must have appropriate insurance or indemnity in place to make sure patients can claim any compensation to which they may be entitled.

Weblinks:www.gdc-uk.org