The General Dental Council (GDC) is today launching a new confidential helpline for dental professionals who may have a concern that they need to raise at work.
Principle 8 of Standards for the Dental Team is to 'raise concerns if patients are at risk'.
It sets out the obligations of every registered dental professional to put patients' interests first and act to protect them. This means that any dental professional must raise a concern if they believe patients or colleagues are at risk, and they must act on any concern that is raised.
However, the GDC does understand that raising a concern is often easier said than done.
Whilst there is a professional responsibility to raise concerns, taking the decision to raise a concern can be a very difficult one, for a range of reasons. Knowing who to raise your concern with you can also be challenging.
The GDC has teamed up with Public Concern at Work - a charity that provides free, confidential advice to people who are concerned about wrongdoing at work to produce new advice for its registrants.
This guidance can be found on the GDC website here.
A confidential helpline has also been launched for dental professionals who wish to discuss their concerns with an impartial adviser.
This helpline is being run by Public Concern at Work. You can call them on 0800 668 1329.