Policy and Research Board annual report to the Council

Transcription

1 Item 19(3) Council 1 December 2016 Policy and Research Board annual report to the Council Purpose of paper Action Corporate Strategy Business Plan 2016 Decision Trail Recommendations Authorship of paper and further information Appendices To provide an overview of items considered by the Policy and Research Board in 2016 and the planned items for For noting. Performance Objective 1: To improve our performance across all our functions so that we are highly effective as a regulator. Good governance: Consolidate the new processes introduced in 2015 and review their progress in supporting the Council and the executive to effectively carry out their roles. In accordance with the General Dental Council Standing Orders for the Non-statutory Committees of Council 2016 the Policy and Research Board must report annually to the Council on its expenditure, its progress made against the work programme for that year and its planned work programme for the following year. The 2017 workplan will be circulated to Council members separately, The Council is asked to note and discuss the annual report. Nicholas Preece, Governance Manager npreece@gdc-uk.org Appendix work programme 1

2 1. Executive summary 1.1. This paper reports on the work undertaken by the Policy and Research Board (the Board) throughout 2016 and the planned work for The Council is asked to note the 2016 annual report and 2017 work programme. 2. Introduction and background 2.1. The key purpose of the Board as defined in its terms of reference is to provide oversight of the development and implementation of strategy, policy and research initiatives and report on them to the Council In accordance with the General Dental Council Standing Orders for the Non-statutory Committees of Council 2016, the Board must report annually to the Council on its expenditure, its progress made against the work programme for that year and its planned work programme for the following year The Board was constituted in 2015 and held its first meeting on 1 December In 2016 the Board held meetings on 10 February, 21 April, 6 July, 9 September and 15 November. The Board also held a workshop on 14 January to scope work and develop a work programme for Development of strategies and guidance 3.1. Throughout 2016 the Board gave feedback to staff on the development of guidance and policies to ensure that they were aligned to the GDC s three year corporate strategy and that appropriate consideration had been given to the wide range of stakeholders they would impact. The final documents were recommended to the Council for discussion and approval Student fitness to practise guidance This guidance was last updated in The key aim of the new guidance was to provide a framework to assist training providers in ensuring students displayed the standards required of practising registrants. The guidance was updated to reflect GDC Standards for the Dental Team, Standards for Education and to present it in a more suitable format for each user group: students, patients and providers. This guidance formed the basis for the student engagement strategy. The Board were satisfied with the overall content and direction, and asked that consideration also be given for duty of candour, responsibilities be refined to encourage ownership of responsibilities and an understanding of what would be expected the day they become a registrant. The final version was submitted to the Council on 27 July 2016, who approved it Student engagement strategy A student and new registrant engagement strategy was proposed in April. The strategy would aim to improve understanding of the GDC and its role to students and recent graduates, build meaningful long-term relationships with students and gain information to inform future policy development work. The Board were happy with the direction of travel of the work. Staff were asked to demonstrate why the GDC was undertaking this work, to consider different approaches for working with each professional group and to be ever mindful of the need to make the best use of resources. Four surveys were developed to gain information and feedback from relevant groups (healthcare regulators, stakeholders, registrants and students) to inform the work. Activities for 2019 would be agreed once activities in had been embedded. An options paper would be submitted to Council on 1 December Evidence strategy The Board considered an evidence strategy to ensure that the GDC s evidence gathering activities properly represented value for money, were closely linked to current policy questions 2

3 and were transparent. The Board had wide-ranging discussions covering its key principles and objectives of the new strategy, the various research methods that the GDC has at its disposal, how to measure impact, and how to ensure the GDC s approach to evidence gathering will demonstrate value for money. The Board approved the evidence strategy, which was discussed and noted by the Council on 5 October Communications 4.1. Development of the internal communications function The internal communications function was set up at the end of The Board reviewed and gave constructive feedback on the Executive s proposals to deliver internal communications: how it added value, how it helped the GDC to achieve corporate objectives, and the work to date. The Board encouraged further activities including in relation to promoting awareness of the corporate strategy and engagement with associates Horizon scanning The Board reviewed the horizon scanning reports throughout 2016 and gave feedback on how how they might be developed. These had become a standing item and also went to Council. The reports were generated by the Editorial Board, an Executive group established to gather soft intelligence from a range of internal and external sources. The reports gave the Board an update of major developments in the external environment, an outline of the broad context that the GDC operates within, and drew attention to recent and upcoming events that were/would be of relevance to the GDC. The Board agreed that it was important that some of this information was shared with external stakeholders and the following communication methods would be used: Associates: a new regular post-council newsletter would be published; Partners: information would be shared at the Dental Professional Forum as a standing item; Wider stakeholders: information would be shared in the GDC s annual report. 5. Engagement with organisations 5.1. A function of the Board was to engage the GDC s key stakeholders on a range of issues including the development and dissemination of research, the development and implementation of current and future policy and the development and implementation of the GDC s corporate strategy. The Board enthusiastically supported the setting up of the Dental Professionals Forum. The initiative was well received and the first meeting in July was well attended. The forum will meet again in December The Board actively sought opportunities for stakeholders to attend and discuss development opportunities, which would continue into The Board also sought opportunities to work with stakeholders, including the Dental Protection/NHS England complaints workshops Care Quality Commission John Milne 10 February 2016 John provided details of the workstreams of the Regulation of Dental Services Programme Board. The Board felt that the work was central to delivering a more joined up system of regulation and complaints-handling. The Board received regular updates of the work it had undertaken Stephen Henderson, indemnity provider, senior figure in dental policy 7 July 2016 Stephen gave an overview of his perception of how dental professionals handled complaints and how the GDC could evolve its role in this area to encourage effective in-house complainthandling. The Board explored the possibility of a jointly-badged and communicated education 3

4 and engagement programme on complaints-handling. Subsequently, the GDC invited a range of stakeholders including defence organisations, professional associations and education organisations to participate in a profession-wide complaints-handling initiative. A meeting would be held on Thursday 24 November and would be discussed further by the Board on 15 February NHS England Ash Patel 7 July 2016 Ash discussed proposals for closer joint working between NHS England, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and the GDC. This included the development of common standards in specific areas and the development of a calibration group to consider the types of cases that should be referred to NHS England, the CQC or the GDC depending on their nature and how they would be directed to the appropriate organisation Association of Dental Groups (ADG) David Worskett 2 November 2016 David provided an overview of the purpose of the ADG, which included promotion of the model of a corporate/group, and the development of policy and best practice. Practices that joined a corporate or a group benefited from better back office support and greater national consistency across performance/quality/compliance. The membership criteria to join the ADG included demonstrating a well-developed education and CPD programme. Corporates/groups had a vested interest in effective corporate complaints-handling and customer satisfaction as this would impact on their brand. Corporates/groups were expected to have good complaintshandling procedures in place, and there would be structures in place to manage complaints centrally (when appropriate) and provide support to a dental professional throughout the process. 6. Strategic development of dental regulation 6.1. Certain aspects of the Council s regulatory reform agenda were referred to the Board for feedback as they were developed Complaints workstreams Complaints workstreams were the major focus for the Board throughout The Board discussed a number of different areas of work relating to complaints-handling in dentistry. These included focussing more effort upstream in an attempt to prevent behaviours that could give rise to a complaint, strengthening first-tier resolution of complaints, working internally and with partners to help create an effective complaints-handling model, and how to ensure that the GDC is only considering complaints that are sufficiently serious as to question a registrant s fitness to practise. The Board also discussed the development of an analysis of fitness to practise data (carried out by Peninsula) and how this will be used to inform policy development Education and Quality Assurance In addition to items discussed under heading 3, the Board discussed the work under development by the Education Policy and Quality Assurance team. The Board discuss potential development opportunities within this team s remit including a riskbased model for inspection activity, e/paper monitoring, and collaborative work to influence Foundation/Core training - including development of memorandums of understanding with organisations involved in the training of dentists and dental care professionals. The Board recognised the long term benefits of directing more resource upstream, particularly into education, which could help to embed good practices in the profession and potentially reduce the number of instances that give rise to a complaint. Other initiatives the Board discussed included: 4

5 Workshops with dental hygiene/therapy education providers, other DCP education providers and BDS providers from topics identified from an analysis of inspection outcomes; The review of the specialty curricula; The development of a new system for monitoring dental nurse training; Implications that might arise from the transposition of the Recognition of Professional Qualifications Directive 2005/36/EC into the UK Thematic CPD Following a workshop on developing thematic CPD the Board felt there was considerable scope to further discuss the benefits of the CPD arrangements to place more emphasis on quality and thematic learning and less on a simple volumetric system based on required hours. The Board also discussed ways to encourage and support CPD learning for registrants, and the benefits and issues that might arise from these options Embedding standards The Board considered a range of proposals for how to best engage with registrants and embed standards in their daily working. It was important for the GDC to have mechanisms to engage on a large scale and inform as many people as possible Fitness to Practise development The Board discussed and were in support of the range of proposals put forward by the Executive of the development of Fitness to Practise, including initiatives to improve the information on line Dental Complaints Service The Board were keen better understand why the DCS was successful in the mediation services it provided and its positive reputation with the dental profession. The Board asked the Executive to investigate areas the GDC could replicate ways that the GDC could work closer with the DCS. Initiatives that were under development throughout 2016 included the creation of DCS case studies and a more robust two way referral system between the GDC and DCS, led by the Head of Casework and Head of Service at DCS. 7. Expenditure 7.1. The only costs associated with the Board in 2016 were the travel and subsistence of Council members for the five meetings. 8. Recommendations 8.1. The Council is asked to note and discuss the annual report. 9. Appendices 2016 work programme. 5