About Us
Our organisation
The General Dental Council (GDC) is the UK-wide statutory regulator of around 112,000 members of the dental team, including approximately 42,000 dentists and 70,000 dental care professionals.
Our primary purpose is to protect patient safety and maintain public confidence in dental services. To achieve this, we register qualified dental professionals, set standards for the dental team, investigate complaints about dental professionals’ fitness to practise, and work to ensure the quality of dental education.
We have offices in London and Birmingham and like many people, lots of our staff have been working at home over the majority of the last year, with some colleagues continuing to attend the office throughout the pandemic.
The GDC Council
The Council is the GDC’s strategic body. It decides policy, sets strategic direction and approves key organisational changes. The Council works to promote public safety and ensure that the public have confidence in the dental profession.
A large part of the Council’s role is to scrutinise the work of the organisation, set a positive tone and culture, seek assurance over the way in which the organisation is run and hold the Executive to account.
Our Council is made up of both registrants from the professions we regulate, and lay members. We are currently in the process of searching for a new Chair and further new Council Member to join the organisation from October 2021.
Our past and future
The GDC has undergone huge change over the last few years. There has been a strategic shift in how we regulate. We will always have patient safety and public confidence at the heart of what we do; but we have moved from a focus on enforcement when things go wrong, to an approach that emphasises learning within the system, resolving concerns locally wherever possible, and engaging more effectively with the dental professions. More detail can be found in our Corporate Strategy – Right time Right place Right touch.
We have also introduced more financial rigour and transparency in the organisation, and part of this work includes publishing a Costed Corporate Plan which promotes a greater understanding of the relationship between our regulatory activity and fees.
However, we recognise that there is still much to do, and we are still in a period of significant change. The Department for Health and Social Care has recently published a consultation [link] regarding proposals for regulatory reform which, if implemented, will have a significant impact on the GDC and the work we do. Brexit, the ongoing impact of COVID-19, and the increasingly divergent healthcare systems across the UK mean that the environment within which GDC operates is complex. We are also seeing changes in the way dentistry is being delivered with new technology and channels emerging.
It is an exciting time to join the GDC and be part of the team addressing these challenges.