28th April 2010 /
Minutes
Confirmed
Minutes of the Standards Committee of the General Dental Council
Minutes of the meeting held on 27th January 2010 at RIBA, 66 Portland Place, London, W1B 1AD.
Members Present:
David Smith (Chair)
Peter Catchpole
Anthony Kilcoyne
Anne Marie Telford
Staff in attendance:
Janet Collins (Head of Standards)
Tom Peplow (Standards Policy Officer)
Charlotte Toghill (Standards Information and Project Officer)
Jenny Watts (Standards Manager)
Alison White (Interim Chief Executive and Registrar)
Item 1 Apologies for absence
1.1 Apologies for absence were received from Margie Taylor and Alison Lockyer
Item 2 Declarations of Interest
2.1 David Smith declared an interest in the standards on commissioning dental appliances guidance.
2.2 Anthony Kilcoyne declared interests in the standards on commissioning dental appliances guidance and on additional qualifications.
Item 3 Minutes of last meeting
3.1 The minutes of the last meeting had been previously approved by the outgoing Standards Committee.
Item 4 Matters arising
4.1 Election of the Chair
4.1.1 Prior to the meeting the election of the Chair took place, and David Smith was elected Chair.
4.2 Indemnity
4.2.1 Janet Collins had attended a meeting with the Department of Health (DoH) on this issue. DoH has convened a working group to review its position in relation to the introduction of rules for adequate and appropriate indemnity and will be reporting back to the healthcare regulators in May.
4.2.2 The previous Committee’s recommendations for introducing a system of checking whether current registrants had some form of cover had not yet been introduced due to resource constraints.
4.2.3 It was agreed that the best way forward would be for staff to meet with the major indemnity providers and reopen discussions as to the practicalities of disclosing their membership lists to the Council rather than the Council requesting the information directly from registrants.
Action: JC – February 2010
4.3 Standards Review
4.3.1 The Interim Chief Executive advised the Committee that the Standards review would require a large amount of resource which is not currently available. It was explained that Council would be discussing the budget at its meeting in February and outstanding policy issues would also be prioritised so at present, no confirmation could be given as to whether the review would take place this year.
4.3.2 The Committee was also made aware that the current Fitness to Practise (FtP) reporting mechanisms were currently insufficient to be able to adequately inform the review and so these would need to be improved before this embarking upon this new project.
4.4 Appropriate Referrals
4.4.1 Members were informed that case studies regarding appropriate referrals had been published in the latest Gazette and positive feedback had been received.
4.4.2 The Committee thought that it would be helpful to have links on the website to this article as well as other relevant standards related excerpts from previous gazette issues and it was agreed that this would be relatively easy to action.
Action: CT – February 2010
4.5 Anonymous Letter
4.5.1 At the previous Committee meeting, an anonymous letter had been considered and an update was provided which explained that all possible avenues had been pursued and there was no further action needed.
Item 5 Standards on commissioning and manufacturing dental appliances
5.1 The Committee received a paper for action from Tom Peplow, Standards Policy Officer.
5.2 Changes were to be introduced to the Medical Devices Directive on 21 March 2010 and the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Authority (MHRA) had issued guidance on how to comply with the regulations.
5.3 The Committee was asked to approve the amendments to the current statement which incorporated the relevant changes to the Directive.
5.4 The members felt that the current wording of the statement did not highlight that the guidance applied to all registrants who manufactured appliances, not just technicians and it was agreed that this aspect needed to be strengthened. It was also felt that the requirement for registrants who send work outside the UK to register as an agent needed to be made more explicit in the statement.
5.5 It was suggested that the statement should go into more detail regarding point 3.b from the paper, and that it should also include a paragraph advising the registrant how to make patients aware of the availability of the statement.
5.5 It was also agreed that as the Committee had a variety of questions about the guidance, registrants would undoubtedly raise similar issues and so a list of FAQs should be published alongside the statement.
5.6 The Committee agreed in principle to the amendments contained within the statement on commissioning and manufacturing dental appliances and that that if the appliance is manufactured outside the EU the manufacturer and place of origin should be on the statement of conformity. It was agreed that a new draft would be circulated to the Committee members for comment shortly after the meeting.
Action: TP, February 2010
Item 6 Additional Qualification/Ethical Advertising
6.1 The Committee received a paper for action from Tom Peplow, Standards Policy Officer.
6.2 After some discussion over the options presented in the paper it was agreed that a revised paper should be written and presented to Council which highlighted all the available options open to the Council regarding additional qualifications, with the relative advantages and disadvantages of adopting each approach.
6.3 The Committee thought it important to include the continuing need for the qualifications to be on the website for patient protection if the qualification substantially altered their scope of practice. It was also noted that taking additional qualifications off the register, yet allowing registrants to advertise those qualifications on their promotional material would only serve to confuse the public.
6.4 It was agreed that for the intervening period, Council should maintain its current position in relation to additional qualifications; i.e. no further additional qualifications will be added to the register and those which are currently on the register will remain.
6.5 In relation to the guidance on ethical advertising, the general principles were agreed with the following amendments:
i) there should be clarification that the registrant is responsible for any advertising which contained their name,
ii) the section on use of the title ‘Dr’ should be removed,
iii) it should be made clear that DCPs and Dentists who are not on the specialist register are not permitted to use the title of ‘specialist’.
6.6 Anthony Kilcoyne informed the Committee of the existence of an EU Directive and accompanying guidance which sets out what information should be contained on a dental practice website and it was agreed that elements of these should be included where appropriate.
6.7 The Committee agreed in principle to the content of guidance on ethical advertising as one of the options to be presented to Council and agreed that a paper should go to Council which clearly set out all the potential options for additional qualifications.
Action: JC/TP, February 2010
Item 7 Dental Professionals with HIV
7.1 The Committee received a paper for action from Jenny Watts, Standards Manager.
7.2 After discussion, the Committee agreed that, not being an expert advisory group and in the absence of definitive endorsement of the Beijing agreement by DoH, it was not in a position to recommend the adoption of the agreement at present.
7.2 However, members agreed that staff should contact the Chief Medical and Dental Officers to ascertain what their views would be if the Council were to adopt the Beijing agreement.
Action: JW, February 2010
Item 8 Direct Access
8.1 The Committee received a paper for action from Jenny Watts, Standards Manager.
8.2 In light of the current resource issues, it was agreed that the Council could not re-open this debate until a formal submission for a relevant educational programme was received.
8.3 It was agreed that the relevant professional associations; British Society of Dental Hygiene and Therapy (BSDHT), and the British Association of Dental Therapists (BADT) should be invited to lunch at the next Committee meeting to discuss the issue with a view to encouraging those associations to submit formal proposals for changing the guidance.
Action: JW, February 2010
Item 9 Dental Bodies Corporate (DBC)
9.1 The Committee received a paper for action from Jenny Watts, Standards Manager.
9.2 The Committee stated that a list of DBCs kept by the Council could be helpful to patients although it was also acknowledged that the list could become out of date very quickly. Members also thought that there was a third option which would be to hold a list of DBCs and directors, but not of the individuals employed by those companies, as there would be no discernible benefit for patients in adopting this approach.
9.3 The Committee agreed that there were no particular standards issues, should the Registration Committee decide to maintain the list, and the Chair agreed to discuss his thoughts with the Chair of Registration Committee before Council in February.
Action: DS, February 2010
Item 10 Raising Concerns
10.1 The Committee received a paper for report from Tom Peplow, Standards and Policy Officer.
10.2 The Committee was updated on the preliminary work being undertaken in relation to the raising concerns guidance, including discussions with DCP professional associations about their members’ concerns and with the NMC who were consulting on their recently updated guidance in this area.
10.3 The Committee agreed that the current guidance needed to be updated, particularly as some members had received queries from DCPs on how to approach a situation where they had concerns about a colleague.
10.4 There was a view that the misconception amongst some DCPs that a dentist would be believed over them, needed to be addressed.
Item 11 Any Other Business
11.1 The Committee was advised that the October meeting clashed with another Committee and members were asked whether there were any other dates which they could attend in October. There were not and, so the members agreed that the current date should remain.
11.2 The Chair asked the Standards team to provide a 2010 work plan for the next Committee meeting.
11.3 The Committee agreed the meetings shall now start at 10:15am.
Action: JC, February 2010
Date of future meetings:
Wednesday 28 April at 10:15
Tuesday 6 July at 10:15
Thursday 21 October at 10:15
Charlotte Toghill
Standards Information and Project Officer
Standards Committee of the GDC28th April 2010 /
Action List
A meeting of the Standards Committee of the General Dental Council
Wednesday 28 April 10.15am
Action list (27 January 2010 - 16 April 2010)
Action point (and location in minutes): / For the attention of: / Action by (date) / Outcome4.2.4 / Indemnity
Staff to meet with the major indemnity providers and reopen discussions as to the practicalities of disclosing their membership lists to the Council rather than the Council requesting the information directly from registrants. / JC / End of February / Report of meetings given in 28 April 2010 meeting paper – Enclosure C
Introducing system of checking handed over to Registration
No further action at present
4.4.2 / Gazette articles
To have links on the website to this article as well as other relevant standards related excerpts from previous gazette issues / CT / End of February / Awaiting development of website update
5.6 / Dental appliances
Amendments to be made to the draft guidance and to be resent to the members prior to the next meeting. / TP / End of February / Statement and frequently asked questions published
No further action
6.7 / AQs
A paper should go to Council which clearly sets out all the potential options for additional qualifications. / JC/TP / End of February / Paper going to May Council and then consultation will follow
7.2 / HIV
Staff should contact the Chief Medical and Dental Officers to ascertain what their views would be if the Council were to adopt the Beijing agreement. / JW / End of February / No further action at present, awaiting report form Department of Health
8.3 / Direct Access
British Society of Dental Hygiene and Therapy (BSDHT), and the British Association of Dental Therapists (BADT) should be invited to lunch at the next Committee meeting. / JW / End of February / Lunch meeting scheduled at 28 April 2010 meeting
9.3 / DBCs
The Chair to discuss his thoughts with the Chair of Registration Committee before Council / DS / February 10th / No further action
11.3 / Work plan
The Standards team to provide a 2010 work plan for the next Committee meeting. / JC / End of February / Work plan provided in 28 April 2010 meeting paper -Enclosure F
Charlotte Toghill
Standards Information and Project Officer