Consultation on GDC’s three-year strategic plan opens amidst great uncertainty in dentistry

The strategy includes plans to embed new principles of professionalism, providing the dental team the space needed to make informed judgements relevant to the situations faced in practice. There are also ongoing plans to focus investigations on the most serious concerns, such as those that raise issues of public safety or confidence.

The quality of the regulation the GDC can provide is closely linked to the quality of legislation it works under. This legislation has not been fundamentally updated for four decades and its weaknesses are becoming increasingly apparent while the timetable for reform gets less and less certain. The regulator says it will continue to press government for the reform it needs to become more agile and efficient – and be ready to respond should it arrive in the next three years – but it will also continue to focus on its core functions, and make improvements wherever it can, should reform not materialise.