Kevin Lewis: In search of answers

In a world of misinformation and disinformation, it’s difficult to know who or what to believe, says Kevin Lewis.

Don’t you just love silly traditions? It’s that time of year when one needs to take care not to fall foul of one of the best of them, although the date of this annual ritual foolishness does vary a bit from one country to another. One of my favourite dental examples appeared in the British Dental Journal on1 April 1980, and was the masterpiece, Dental disease in brunus edwardii penned by the late Barry Scheer.

Barry, a paedodontist who taught me as a student at the (then) London Hospital and later became a friend and colleague when I returned to teach there part-time, also practised in London’s west end. He was a founding member of the British Society of Paediatric Dentistry and subsequently president of the IAPD in 2001. I always enjoyed both his company and his writing (he was editor of the IAPD journal for some years) and the ‘brunus edwardii’ article is a fitting memorial to his life, sense of humour and career.

By way of a clue for those who are unfamiliar with the background, ‘brunus edwardii’ loosely translates as ‘teddy bear’ and the article’s key reference was The House at Pooh Corner by AA Milne (1928). It was a seminal work on preventive dentistry, reminding readers that while honey was a natural product manufactured by bees, it brought health risks as well as benefits.

Encore une fois

It was in that spirit I was reading the latest High Court verdict on the lamentable performance of the GDC in relation to its fitness to practise procedures. This judgment was handed down in late March so is very recent, but these public condemnations come so thick and fast these days that, as I commented in this column several times last year, one tends to lose count. The judgement could have been handed down on 1 April and we would still have believed it, such is the GDC’s track record.

In this particular case, the registrant was appealing their erasure by the Professional Conduct Committee, but the criticism did not relate to the actual PCC decision, but the GDC playing fast and loose with the procedural aspects and their flagrant disregard for fundamental, well-established principles of good legal and judicial practice.

The case will now proceed as a statutory appeal, but the High Court judge felt it necessary in the interim to highlight and criticise the GDC for a chronicle of errors. The GDC took advantage of the fact that the registrant did not have legal representation by covertly communicating directly with the court without copying in the registrant nor even making the registrant aware that such exchanges were taking place.

The GDC had also dragged its feet procedurally, effectively ignored the registrant and chose not to communicate as well as failing to act on correspondence from the registrant, demonstrating what the judge described as ‘apparent indifference’ to the principles of justice. These failings on the part of the GDC, a public body and statutory regulator, the judge found ‘difficult to comprehend’. Furthermore, the judge expressed surprise at ‘a concerning lack of diligence’ on the part of the GDC in terms of verifying critical procedural facts.

Here we go again. Add it to the (ever-lengthening) list and swallow hard when I also tell you that the judge predictably awarded costs against the GDC, so ultimately registrants and their ARFs will collectively be footing the bill for the GDC’s incompetence. Again. And I am sorry to confirm, in case you were wondering, that all this is no April Fool joke – it is deadly serious.

One might think or hope that heads will roll. There having been so many other excoriating criticisms of the GDC by the courts in recent years. But completely unconnected to that line of thought, readers may have missed the fact that the GDC has been in the process of recruiting a new chair to succeed the present incumbent Baron Toby Harris of Haringey. One of the hats unexpectedly thrown into the ring had a tell-tale bullet hole over the right ear and it was later confirmed that it did indeed belong to His Supreme Modesty Donald J Trump of Mar-a-Lago. I thought you might like to see what he said in his application…

Make the GDC great again

I am offering my services because I am told that your organisation is in deep trouble on many fronts. Deep, deep trouble… and on so many fronts. So many fronts. And not for the first time, as I think we all know. I was reading only the other day what the UK House of Commons and even your House of Lords had to say about you in 2015 and 2016, and it is not pretty. It is pretty embarrassing, that’s for sure – but it’s not pretty. My good friend King Charles III – a great man… a wonderful gentleman… has told me what a train wreck it all is, and I will be talking to him about it during my upcoming state visit. Or should I say ‘second state visit’ by popular demand?

Your fitness to practise procedures are a disgrace. Everybody thinks so, and you should never have let it get this far. I would guarantee to get rid of all the backlog and delays in 24 hours. Or maybe less than that. I have a proven track record for being able to make cases disappear and some of the allegations brought against dental registrants in the UK are an absolute joke. Especially in comparison to some of the things I have been accused of over the years. I will appoint Elon as my CEO and registrar – you know Elon and will have seen his chainsaw – and together we will root out inefficiency and streamline all your admin and bureaucracy.

Instead of an Annual Retention Fee I would charge people for using the service. That would cut down the number of frivolous or vexatious complaints overnight. It is such a rip off to expect registrants to pay all the GDC’s costs in bringing cases against them, and then having to pay their indemnity providers to defend those same cases on top of that.

I must confess that I find myself strangely and increasingly attracted to the idea of Elon Musk’s chainsaw tidying up the loose ends and ragged edges of the GDC. I am even prepared to chip in for the petrol

I am no stranger to court proceedings myself, but it would save a lot of time and money if you left the High Court and Court of Appeal to hear all your cases in the first place, rather than waiting months and years for your Professional Conduct Committee to get it spectacularly wrong so often, and then have their decisions overturned. It amazes me how you manage to find so many law firms, solicitors, barristers, expert witnesses and so on that are so incompetent. They are a disgrace. In future they would never get a second chance and very quickly your hearings could be really beautiful. So beautiful…

It sounds like you also have a problem with overseas-qualified dentists. I have built a wall to keep people out, and the same approach would surely work to keep your UK dentists in, especially the young ones. I will do a deal with the NHS to fix their workforce problems.

You may be aware that I am a big fan of free speech, and I think people should be free to say things whether they are true or not. Frankly I can’t see what all the fuss is about because what matters is what people believe (and what you can make them believe), not whether it’s true or not. Sadly your ‘Standards’ guidance and other guidance documents don’t leave your people much room to run a business and live their life. You have to bend the truth now and then to achieve the things you want to achieve in life. Under my chairmanship anyone who has been accused of misconduct involving dishonesty will be retrospectively pardoned. I will sign those Executive Orders on day one.

I will naturally respect your decision – especially if I agree with it. All hell will break loose if I don’t. (ends)

Coup de grâce

Reflecting upon this, I must confess that I find myself strangely and increasingly attracted to the idea of Elon Musk’s chainsaw tidying up the loose ends and ragged edges of the GDC. I am even prepared to chip in for the petrol.

Many believe that the time has come to put the GDC out of its misery once and for all, but the old adage ‘beware what you wish for’ springs to mind. One gets the feeling that the problems are now deeply engrained, reflecting a troubling internal anti-registrant culture. Whether or not anyone recognises that, will be revealed when the identity of new chair is announced.

I suspect that you could get long odds on the appointment of a registrant, even longer odds on a registrant who is currently practising, and yet longer odds on a registrant who understands the problem and the issues, and has the courage to challenge the status quo and reverse all the damage that has been done since 2013, when the last elected chair demitted from office.

Kevin Lewis: In search of answers

Encore une fois

Make the GDC great again

Coup de grâce

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