Whistleblowing

wow.. reallly shocking to me,
I think in most cases where the dentist is not following the rules/protocol
he knows and is doing it intentionally sooner than later he will get caught

I worked in a surgery and the dentist was filthy. No gloves, no mask, wiped instruments on his tunic etc, even reps wouldnt have a cup of tea, i got told off for sterilising gauze cos 'noones died yet' and for disinfecting my hands as i was 'not birthing a cow'... for flip sake! As i was only trianing at the time i dint know what say i had or who to go to, so i left and work in a surgery that is so on top of cross infection etc its hard to think that people can work in a certain way with no conscience.

Very good point, difficult situation.

I would approach it in a staff meeting (if you have them) You should research, prepare and be clear. So you could say "I was reading the XXX article last week and..." point out to them in a non-personal way - there shortcomings. You could then follow on to the fact that if they were caught you could suffer for it, therefore giving a very good reason for you mentioning it. To diffuse the situation, you could maybe approach it by identify or "creating" a minor shortcoming of your own. So you are not just pointing the finger at a particular DCP but making it a whole practice thing...if that makes sense. Afteralll no one is perfect and we all need a kick up the bum at times.

This is a very difficult thing. I worked in a practice where one of the dentists was doing many things that the GDC would not approve of. I felt helplessly sorry for the patients and I also found out that he had been suspended by the GDC before. I eventually just left, along with another nurse and the hygienist. I think it is a good thing to inform the GDC. This is why we need support groups where we can all get together to help each other in these difficult decisions. Its not fair that we should have to make such a tough decision on our own...

I recently attended a CPD course at which we were actively encouraged to Whistleblow on any behaviour from other registered dental professionals who weren't putting patients interests first. The main reason given for doing this was that if this behaviour came to light any other way, and we were then questioned about whether we new it was happening, then we too could lose our registration for not reporting it earlier.
I'm wondering what everyone else thinks about this, personally I would find it very hard if it was small things, like not wearing PPE etc for example. I would worry about losing my job, even though whistleblowers are supposed to be protected, could you imagine the atmosphere at work!!!
I know there are other channels you can go through first, but what if you are in a single handed practice and the only other person you can go to is the person causing the problem??!!
All thoughts greatfully received.