The GDC has announced the appointment of 30 more dental professionals to its independent Fitness to Practise Panel. Members of the panel are responsible for hearing cases where a registered dental professional may not be fit to work because of poor conduct, health or professional performance.

The new appointments will help meet the increasing demand on the panel which now rules on a broader range of hearings, including those about dental professionals’ performance and appeals against rejected registration applications.

The panel includes lay people as well as dental professionals and now has 78 members in total: 40 dentists, 22 lay people and 16 dental care professionals.

GDC President Hew Mathewson said:

“We are delighted to announce the appointment of 30 new Fitness to Practise Panel members. The new panellists will play an important role in safeguarding the public and upholding standards within the dental professions.”

The new panel members are:

Dentists
Ayée Marie McGrath
Helen Parkinson
Christopher Hoyle
Nicholas Young
Anita Nolan
Suzanne Noble
Sally-Anne Atkinson
Robert Tobin
Harneet Mangat
John Makin
Catherine Brady
Jonathan Baber
Anthony Markham
Josephine Hassan
Anthony Mellor
Philip Johnstone
Roland Kitchen
Denise Forshaw
Satnam Singh Moonga
Jane Fenwick

Dental hygienists
Pippa Stewart
Patricia Macpherson
Janet Reid

Dental nurses
Margaret Saunderson
Carol Denning-Kemp

Dental technicians
Anthony Griffin
David Kime
Maja Jackson

Dental therapists
Ruth Lovering
Lynne Stuart

The vacancies were advertised in the dental media and applications were sought from all GDC-registrant groups. New members were selected through an interview process and will receive thorough training before they start to hear cases.

Ends

For media enquiries, please contact Jodie Ward on 020 7009 2746 or jward@gdc-uk.org.

Notes to editors:

1. The Fitness to Practise Panel vacancies were advertised extensively in the dental press, and applications were invited from all registrant groups: dentists, dental hygienists, dental therapists, dental nurses, dental technicians, clinical dental technicians and orthodontic therapists. Each application was reviewed against consistent criteria, through a process of initial sifting, secondary screening and short listing that involved at least two members of the GDC’s Appointments Committee scrutinising each application.

2. 75 candidates were invited for interview. The interviews were conducted by panels of three members of the Appointments Committee – with at least one lay and one dental member on each panel. Interviews were carefully structured with candidates asked to discuss a case study, which they had been given time to study in advance, followed by a set of initial questions designed to explore the competencies required.   

3. Successful candidates attended a two-day initial training course in September. All members will receive regular training throughout their period of service. Additionally, particular training in the role of Panel chair will be provided for current and prospective chairs. There is also an appraisal system for all Panel members.