Sir, in fear of being accused of 'hitting a man when he is down', I do believe the General Dental Council (GDC) needs to clarify its position with respect to patient confidentiality. The regulation/advice of the GDC appears to be in conflict with that of the General Medical Council (GMC) on this matter.1,2

The GMC's advice to its registrants clearly states that any information given to a medical practitioner is assumed eligible to be disclosed to other healthcare professionals involved in the patient's care unless the patient declares otherwise. The GDC's advice appears to read that the patient must give their stated permission for this information to be disclosed. It would appear the only secure way that a GDC registrant can claim they have that permission is to have written consent for that disclosure from the patient.

Clearly, any practitioner in secondary care replying to a healthcare professional who has referred the patient to them could be challenged on the information given in their reply unless the patient gives their specific authority to disclose any information. Surely, the GDC should reconsider its advice, and do as the GMC have advised, and clearly state that implied consent for information disclosure to other healthcare professionals is assumed unless otherwise stated by the patient. Should my interpretation of the regulation be correct where does it place those colleagues who hold both GDC and GMC registration? A ridiculous situation could arise where a joint GMC and GDC registrant satisfies one of their regulatory authorities and not the other. How can such a situation be both fair to a patient and the registrant?