Dentists angry at being ‘spied on’ by agents hired by regulator

DENTISTS have become embroiled in a “spying” row with their regulator, which has spent thousands of pounds on private investigators who posed as members of patients’ families.

The General Dental Council (GDC), which oversees about 110,000 dentists and dental care professionals, has spent over £17,000 on at least one company which offers covert investigation services, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.

Between 2017-18, the GDC paid £17,064.85 to Invicta Investigation, a private detective agency, to “investigate complaints or information received in respect of a registrant’s fitness to practise”.

While the covert investigations were carried out legally, they prompted dentist groups to condemn the “Stasi tactics” used by the GDC, saying that the regulator should not be using sizeable amounts of registrants’ fees to conduct “unfair and invasive” investigations.

The Professional Standards Authority, which oversees health regulators, said yesterday that it would explore the information revealed by The Telegraph as part of a review of the GDC, but would not comment on specific cases.

“When illegal tooth-whitening is running rampant, and braces are being flogged via websites, the GDC should be using tactics like mystery shoppers to protect patients,” said Mick Armstrong, the chairman of the British Dental Association. “Entrapment is entirely another matter. These sort of Stasi tactics are not a good look for a professional regulator who lists their values as ‘fairness, transparency, responsiveness and respect’.”

In one instance in 2016, two private investigators paid for by the GDC

‘The GDC should be using mystery shoppers to protect patients … entrapment is entirely another matter’

attended a dental appointment posing as relatives of an elderly lady called “Evelyn”. They said she needed new partial dentures but was unable to attend because she was very ill.

The GDC say it was acting after an anonymous complaint that the dentist was working without registration. The investigation was subsequently thrown out, with the GDC having to pay the legal costs of those involved.

Raj Rattan, dental director at Dental Protection, which provides legal advice to dentists, said: “The fact that the

GDC is prepared to target its own registrants without a sufficiently justified cause is, in itself, unsettling for dentists. But what I find most concerning and disappointing is the covert nature of the investigation.

“The use of an entirely contrived scenario about a sick pensioner in very difficult circumstances was designed to trigger an emotional response and lure a registrant into acting outside of their scope. This is hardly an ordinary opportunity for wrongdoing, and it is unfair and invasive.”

Private detective agencies offer a range of services from surveillance to missing persons cases. While they do have to operate within the law, they are not overseen by a regulatory body.

The GDC would not confirm whether it had enlisted the services of other private investigators. It told The Telegraph it used this approach “rarely”.

A GDC spokesman said: “In order to fulfil its statutory function, namely the protection of the public, the GDC investigates complaints or information received in respect of a registrant’s fitness to practise in a number of ways.

“This includes the use of investigators, although this approach is one that is used rarely.”

The Telegraph approached Invicta Investigation for comment.