The General Dental Council received more whistleblowing disclosures in 2017-18 than any of the eight healthcare regulators. Since April 2017, a new legal duty came into force which required all prescribed bodies to publish an annual report on the whistleblowing disclosures made to them by workers and the new joint report highlights the regulators’ coordinated effort to work together in handling serious issues.

The Whistleblowing disclosures report 20181 details cases from the GDC, General Medical Council (GMC), Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC), General Chiropractic Council, General Optical Council, General Osteopathic Council, General Pharmaceutical Council, and Health & Care Professions Council.

It shows that between 1 April 2017 and 31 March 2018, the GDC received three times the number received by fellow regulator, the GMC, which accumulated 23 cases. The majority of disclosures were made direct to the GDC’s Fitness to Practise (FtP) team and led to regulatory action. In addition, two disclosures were made during this period relating to education providers. One disclosure related to a course provider where the GDC was already undertaking regulatory action. The second disclosure resulted in a number of FtP cases relating to clinical concerns being opened and investigated.

In the report, a GDC spokesperson acknowledged the higher number of whistleblowers compared with many of the other regulators and said this could be due to how dental care was provided.

‘While we are unable to form firm conclusions as to why this might be the case, it is worth noting that most dentistry is provided in a primary care setting and outwith the more robust clinical governance frameworks that characterise some other forms of healthcare.’

‘This may mean that alternative disclosure routes are less present in dentistry, and a larger proportion are dealt with by the regulator. We may be able to explore this further as we collect more data.’