Adjudication by the General Dental Council

Three stage Hearing

A full hearing before a Practice Committee is conducted in 3 stages: fact finding, impairment and sanction.

It is advisable for anyone called before the PCC to attend the hearing. If you do not attend it is likely that the proceedings will take place in your absence. Practitioners are normally represented by a solicitor or barrister. A notice of the enquiry, including the charge to be faced, is sent by the GDC’s solicitors at least 28 days before the date of the hearing. The Committee’s first duty is to determine whether the facts in the charge have been proved. Only after some or all of these facts have been proved, does the Committee consider whether this amounts to impairment.

Sanctions

If fitness to practise is not found impaired then the Committee may give a warning or advice regarding future conduct. If fitness to practise is found to have been impaired the following sanctions are available to the Committee:

• erasure from register (not permitted on solely health grounds);
• registration suspended for up to 12 months;
• conditional registration for up to 3 years;
• suspension/conditional registration may be extended at a later date at a review hearing.

Failure to comply with requirements imposed as conditions may result in the Committee ordering erasure from register.