Provision of Legal Services in Relation to Fitness to Practise

Description

The purpose of this notice is to notify the market of the General Dental Council’s (GDC) intention to undertake a procurement exercise for Legal Services in relation to Fitness to practice cases. The GDC is the UK-wide statutory regulator of more than 115,000 members of the dental team, including approximately 44,000 dentists and 71,000 dental care professionals (DCPs) - dental nurses, clinical dental technicians, dental hygienists, dental technicians, dental therapists and orthodontic therapists. Our primary purpose is to protect patient safety and maintain public confidence in the dental professions. The GDC achieve this through the following objectives:   -to protect, promote and maintain the health, safety and well-being of the public;   -to promote and maintain confidence in the dental profession; and   -to promote and maintain proper professional standards and conduct for these professions. Where a concern is raised about a dental professional’s conduct or competence the has the power to investigate:  -serious or repeated mistakes in clinical care, for example mistakes in diagnosis or dental procedure;  -failure to examine a patient properly, to secure a patient’s informed consent before treatment, keep satisfactory records, or to respond reasonably to a patient’s needs;  -not having professional indemnity insurance;  -cross infection issues (for example, using dirty clinical equipment during treatment);  -serious breaches of a patient’s confidentiality;  -potential criminal offences including fraud, sexual misconduct, theft or dishonesty by a dental professional;  -conduct that is contrary to the GDC standards; and  -poor health or a medical condition that significantly affects a dental professional’s ability to treat patients safely.  At this point we are considering our procurement options to securing contract to provide the legal services as described in section [ II.2.4 ] below. If your organisation is interested in tendering for the work described in this PIN , please complete the expression of interest form , downloadable from the Delta e-Sourcing portal. Complete forms will need to be submitted by Midday on 18 March 2024. Lot 1: The GDC will be looking to commence a procurement in April 2024 to secure circa two suppliers to provide legal services in relation to fitness to practise cases. The Supplier will: -provide legal advice, case management, gather evidence and ensuring cases progress in line with legislation, case law, policies, procedures and KPIs. -Ensure the right regulatory outcome to protect the public is reached on cases efficiently, proportionately, consistently and fairly, working collaboratively with internal teams and external stakeholders. -provide high quality presentation services either through internal advocates or instructions of external counsel. -be a key partner, actively contributing to the GDC’s operational performance and strategy through the delivery of additional legal services and project work where required. Additional information: The estimates contract value is based on spend over a 4-year period. The estimated contract value as set out at II.1.5 above and contract duration , is subject to change if we believe a longer contract would have additional benefits.