GDC publishes healthcare regulators’ whistleblowing disclosures report
NewsPosted by: Dental Design 30th September 2024
The General Dental Council (GDC), along with eight other UK healthcare regulators, has published its 2024 annual report on whistleblowing disclosures.
Since 2018, all the healthcare regulators have jointly compiled an annual report to highlight our coordinated effort in working together to highlight and address whistleblowing concerns raised with us.
The aim of the report is to be transparent about how we handle disclosures, to highlight the action taken about these issues, and to help support collaboration across the health sector. Speaking up to protect others is important, and we want to encourage this, especially when there are serious concerns regarding public safety or confidence in the dental professionals we regulate.
This year, the GDC received 79 whistleblowing disclosures, compared to 82 last year.
To improve how whistleblowing concerns are dealt with, the GDC has enhanced the way it reviews concerns when received through the initial assessment process.
During this period, the GDC also reviewed and amended itsprocesses and procedures for the identification of whistleblowers, which included moving the responsibility for whistleblower identification to an in-house Legal Advisory Service within the Initial Assessment Decision Group. This enables the regulator to take an early legal review of all cases, which has helped identify whistleblowers and provide better protection and support to them.
In addition, work is ongoing to amend the GDC’s initial concern reporting webform to allow individuals raising concerns to self-identify as whistleblowers.
The report also highlights that, relative to other healthcare regulators, the GDC received a higher proportion of disclosures in relation to the size of our register. This is because most dentistry is provided in a primary care setting and outside the more robust clinical governance frameworks that characterise some other forms of healthcare and may mean that alternative disclosure routes are less present in dentistry.
This Whistleblowing disclosures report 2024 is published jointly by the GDC with the General Chiropractic Council, General Medical Council, General Optical Council, General Osteopathic Council, General Pharmaceutical Council, Health and Care Professions Council, Nursing and Midwifery Council and Social Work England.
You can read more on the GDC’s definition of a whistleblower, find out how more about how to raise a concern if you work in dentistry, and download the Whistleblowing disclosures report 2024 from the GDC website.
