Why it’s essential we listen to dental professionals

Kirstie Moons is a member of the GDC Council and is Chair of the Policy and Research Board (PRB), and here reflects on April's PRB meeting.
As a registrant member of Council and the Chair of the GDC’s Policy and Research Board (PRB), I believe it is essential that we listen to our registrants and actively seek their views on the issues in dentistry that matter to them. Through listening and understanding these concerns, we can prioritise our work to aim to address them, where it is within our remit. It was with this aim that we recently hosted a registrant workshop at April’s meeting of PRB, to give the attendees the opportunity to talk to Council members and the Executive team and highlight any issues they might have.
- Education – The differences in standards that occur across education providers, the importance of peer groups in learning and how to ensure that the GDC standards are embedded in education.
- The dental team – Recognising the importance of all members of the dental team in providing effective patient care and addressing the hierarchy that can exist and sometimes creates barriers to team-working.
- Climate of fear – The causes and how we can address these, the detrimental effect of a 'no win, no fee' culture.
- Stress – How pressure to hit targets can trigger stress and what we can do to recognise and address that within our remit.
- Cosmetic dentistry – The change of focus and demand for consumer services over healthcare.
- Social media – The use of social media to attract new customers, research techniques and provide peer networks. Whether what is displayed is a fair representation of what is achievable.
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