Remediation in GDC cases
Remediation, in GDC terms, means putting right whatever led to the concern and stopping it happening again. The GDC case examiner guidance manual asks whether the problem is easily remediable, whether it has been remedied, and whether it is highly unlikely to be repeated. Its examples of remedial action include relevant training courses, reflective writing and a personal development plan.
This matters because the question at every stage is about the present, not only the past. The GDC’s guidance for its practice committees describes impairment as a current test. Decision makers ask whether you have put, or are liable to put, patients at unwarranted risk of harm, whether you have brought the dental professions into disrepute or may do so, and whether you have breached a fundamental tenet of the professions by reference to the Standards for the Dental Team.
Good remediation answers those questions with evidence. The Standards for the Dental Team, in force since September 2013 and built around nine principles, are the benchmark. The GDC is exploring new approaches to its standards, but until anything replaces them, name the principle each allegation engages and show how your learning addresses it.
Before you start
We are an independent CPD provider, not part of the GDC. No regulator approves remediation courses, and no course can guarantee an outcome. Take advice from your defence organisation, union or solicitor, and agree with them which learning is relevant to your case.
Which course fits your GDC concern
Start from the allegation itself. Match it to the principle of the Standards for the Dental Team that is engaged, then choose one or two courses that address it directly. The pairings below are a starting point, not a substitute for advice on your case.
Dishonesty, probity and fees
Dishonesty goes to principle 9 of the Standards: your personal behaviour must maintain patients’ confidence in you and the profession. NHS claims, private fees, records altered after the event and misleading information about qualifications are typical examples. Remediation should show you understand why honesty is fundamental to public trust in dentistry, not just which rule you broke.
Clinical care and treatment planning
Concerns about the standard of treatment engage the principles of putting patients’ interests first and working within your professional knowledge and skills. Show what you have learned clinically, how you now assess, plan and review treatment, and how you recognise the limits of your competence and refer appropriately. Workplace evidence such as audit or supervision matters most here.
Record keeping
Poor or incomplete clinical records often sit alongside other allegations, and records are usually the first thing a clinical adviser or case examiner reads. Show improved record templates, a records audit and a clear understanding of what a complete dental record must contain, including medical history, examination findings, options discussed, consent and costs.
Consent and communication
Valid consent and effective communication each have their own principle in the Standards. Concerns often arise when treatment options, risks or costs were not explained, or when a patient did not understand what they agreed to. Remediation should show how you now discuss options, costs and risks, check understanding, handle complaints, and record each conversation.
Boundaries and inappropriate behaviour
Sexual misconduct and boundary breaches are treated very seriously because they damage trust in the whole profession. Remediation alone may not be enough to avoid a serious outcome, but genuine insight still matters. Show that you understand power, vulnerability and consent in the dental chair, the role of chaperones, and the warning signs of a boundary beginning to slip.
Discrimination and treating patients fairly
Treating patients with dignity and without discrimination is part of putting patients’ interests first, and principle 9 covers your wider behaviour. Concerns can come from remarks, refusing treatment, unequal access or conduct towards colleagues and on social media. Remediation should show honest reflection on your own attitudes and practical changes in how you treat patients and the team.
How a GDC fitness to practise case moves forward
The GDC describes its process in stages. Not every case goes through all of them, and most never reach a hearing. Knowing where your case sits tells you what kind of evidence will be read next and by whom.
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Initial assessment
When the GDC receives information, it first decides whether there are issues that could affect patient safety or public confidence. It aims to make this initial assessment decision in 90% of cases within five working days. Not every concern is opened as a fitness to practise case. If one is opened, you will be told. Contact your defence organisation now and start thinking honestly about what may need to change.
- 2
Assessment and investigation
GDC caseworkers gather information, which can include patient records, clinical advice, and medical or police reports where relevant. For some single-patient clinical cases with no other recent allegations, the GDC carries out more limited initial inquiries, with records reviewed by a Clinical Dental Adviser. You will usually be invited to respond. Remediation you can already evidence helps the GDC understand the risk accurately.
- 3
Case examiners
If there is an allegation that your fitness to practise may be impaired, the case goes to the GDC’s case examiners, who are clinical and lay decision makers. They can close the case, issue a letter of advice, issue a warning (which may be published on the register), invite you to agree undertakings, or refer the case to a practice committee. They apply a real prospect test and look at insight, remorse and remedial action. Your written representations and remediation bundle are read here.
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Interim Orders Committee (if needed)
If there may be a serious or immediate risk, the case can be referred to the Interim Orders Committee at the Dental Professionals Hearings Service. It does not decide whether the allegations are true. It carries out a risk assessment and can impose interim conditions or interim suspension for up to 18 months, reviewed every six months. You can send relevant documents to the GDC in good time before the hearing.
- 5
Practice committee hearing
Cases referred for a full inquiry go to the Professional Conduct Committee, the Professional Performance Committee or the Health Committee, run by the Dental Professionals Hearings Service. Panels normally have three members, including lay and professional members. The committee decides the facts, then current impairment, then sanction. Evidence of insight and remediation is usually most relevant at the impairment and sanction stages.
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Sanction and resumed hearings
If impairment is found, the committee can issue a reprimand, impose conditions for up to three years, suspend registration for up to 12 months, or direct erasure. Taking no action despite impairment is possible but described as rare. Where conditions or suspension are imposed, a resumed hearing usually follows, and you will need to show what you have done since. Erasure is the most serious sanction, and restoration requires a separate application.
What GDC decision makers look for in remediation
The GDC case examiner guidance manual and the practice committee guidance point to the same core themes. In 2025 the GDC also published independent research on remediation in its fitness to practise process, which adds useful detail about what decision makers find convincing.
Insight that started early
The case examiner manual looks for demonstrations of insight and remorse: whether you recognise that you should have behaved differently, whether you have reflected on your performance or conduct, and whether insight was shown before case examiners considered the matter. Insight that appears only on the eve of a hearing tends to carry less weight. Admit what you accept clearly, apologise sincerely, and avoid blaming colleagues, the practice or the patient.
Remediation targeted to the concern
The GDC’s published research found that effective remediation should be tailored and fit for purpose, and that decision makers can be unconvinced when registrants try to persuade by volume rather than relevance. Choose courses that map to the specific allegation and the specific principle of the Standards for the Dental Team in question. Two relevant courses with a strong, specific reflection usually say far more than ten loosely related certificates ever could.
Evidence of changed practice
The same research found that supervised, hands-on or applied learning tends to carry more weight than reading or watching material alone. Online courses are a useful foundation, but pair them with something that shows change in the surgery: a revised consent process, an audit of your records, peer review, a new complaints log, or a supervisor’s report. This is the point where written reflection becomes evidence that your practice is now safe.
Low risk of repetition
Case examiners consider the risk of recurrence, and practice committees ask whether you are liable in future to put patients at unwarranted risk. Show the concrete safeguards you have put in place so the same thing is unlikely to happen again: a checklist, a change in how you book or plan treatment, a protocol agreed with your practice manager, or support you have arranged. Explain how you will keep these going after the case closes.
Recommended GDC remediation courses
All 19Each course is self-paced and online. You get scenario-based questions with an 80% pass mark, a structured reflective account and a CPD certificate showing your name, the course title and the CPD hours.
Fitness to Practise for Healthcare Professionals
A Core Course on Regulation, Current Impairment and Professional Response in the United Kingdom
Professionalism and Professional Standards for Dentists and Dental Professionals
Professional Practice, Teamwork and Accountability under GDC Standards
Ethics and Ethical Standards for Dentists and Dental Professionals
Principles, Standards and Professional Conduct in Dental Care
Probity for Healthcare Professionals
Honesty, Integrity, and Trust in Professional Practice
Ensuring Clinical Competence and Patient Safety for Healthcare Professionals
Competence, Safety, and Continuous Development in Practice
Professionalism in Documentation for Healthcare Professionals
Accuracy, Integrity and Accountability in Clinical and Non-Clinical Records
Ensuring Effective Communication as Healthcare Professionals
Clear, Respectful and Patient-Centred Communication in Practice
Duty of Candour in Healthcare Practice
Being Open and Honest When Things Go Wrong
Ethical Boundaries with Patients and Colleagues
Recognising, Maintaining and Restoring Professional Limits
Building your GDC remediation bundle
A remediation bundle is the set of documents you give the GDC to show insight and change. Keep it focused, dated and easy to read, and ask your adviser what to submit and when.
What to put in your bundle
- A reflective statement that addresses each allegation and links it to the relevant principle of the Standards for the Dental Team.
- Certificates from targeted courses, each with a short note on what you learned and what you changed as a result.
- A personal development plan with specific, dated learning objectives tied to the concern.
- A clinical records audit, with before and after examples where you can share them appropriately.
- Revised practice documents, such as consent forms, treatment plan templates or a complaints log.
- Evidence of peer review, mentoring or clinical supervision, ideally with a written report from the person involved.
- Testimonials from your practice principal, nurse or colleagues who have read the allegation and can describe how you work now.
- Evidence of any apology or candid conversation with the patient, where appropriate and with advice.
Writing your reflection
- Describe what happened plainly, then explain why it fell short of the Standards for the Dental Team.
- Focus on the impact on the patient and on public confidence in dentistry, not only on the effect on you.
- Explain what you learned from specific courses or supervision and give a concrete example of how your practice is now different.
- Write in your own words; decision makers can usually tell when a statement has been copied.
- End with the safeguards you will keep in place, showing that you have thought about the future and not just the case.
When to start remediation
Start as soon as you know about the concern. The case examiner manual specifically asks whether insight was displayed at an early stage, before case examiners considered the matter. Remediation that is already under way when case examiners read your file can affect whether a case is closed with advice, resolved with undertakings or referred to a hearing.
Do not rush to submit a pile of certificates in the first week either. The GDC’s research notes that some skills take time to develop and that volume is not relevance. Complete a small number of targeted courses early, write an honest reflection, then build evidence of changed practice over the following weeks so it is ready for each stage.
Undertakings and published warnings at the case examiner stage
For many dental professionals the case examiner stage is where remediation matters most. Case examiners can resolve a case without a hearing by issuing advice or a warning, or by agreeing undertakings with you. The case examiner manual says undertakings work where the issues can be fully addressed by actions that are specific, unambiguous and objectively measurable. You are normally given 28 days to respond, and undertakings are ordinarily published on the register while in force.
Targeted courses, reflection and supervision you have already started make it easier for case examiners to see a credible route back to safe practice. If you breach undertakings, case examiners can refer the original allegation to a practice committee.
The GDC consulted from March to June 2026 on updated case examiner guidance and a revised undertakings bank, including standardising how long warnings are published. Check the current documents on the GDC website, or ask your adviser, before relying on any detail.
Common remediation mistakes in GDC cases
- Submitting many unrelated CPD certificates; the GDC’s own research suggests volume without relevance does not persuade.
- Writing a reflection that defends or minimises the conduct, or blames the patient, the practice or a colleague.
- Waiting until a practice committee hearing is listed before starting remediation, which can make insight look late.
- Relying on online learning alone when the concern is clinical; add supervised or practical evidence that your practice has changed.
- Responding to the GDC without first taking advice from a dental defence organisation, union or solicitor.
Core course
Fitness to Practise for Healthcare Professionals
Our most complete remediation course: 4 CPD hours and 40 scenario questions on impairment, insight, remediation and reflection, with a certificate when you pass.
GDC remediation: common questions
Are these courses approved by the GDC?
No. The GDC does not approve, accredit or endorse remediation courses from any provider. Case examiners and practice committees look at the evidence you put forward and decide how much weight it deserves. What matters is that the learning is relevant, that you can explain what you learned, and that your practice has changed. The decision is always the GDC’s.
Will completing a course guarantee a better outcome?
No course can guarantee any outcome. Decision makers weigh insight, remediation, the seriousness of the concern and the risk of repetition together, and for some allegations even strong remediation may not prevent a serious sanction. A course helps most when it is targeted, combined with honest reflection and supported by changes you can show in practice.
When should I send remediation evidence to the GDC?
Take advice from your defence organisation or solicitor on timing, but in general earlier is better. The case examiner manual asks whether insight was shown before case examiners considered the matter. If your case is at investigation or case examiner stage, evidence submitted with your representations will be read. If it is referred to a hearing, you can update your bundle to show what you have done since.
Do online courses count as remediation for clinical concerns?
They can form part of it. GDC-published research found that decision makers tend to give more weight to supervised or practical learning than to reading or watching material alone. For a clinical concern, use an online course to build understanding and write your reflection, then add evidence from your workplace, such as an audit, peer review or a supervisor’s report, showing how your practice has changed.
Which course should a dental nurse or hygienist take?
All GDC registrants work to the same Standards for the Dental Team, so the same courses apply across the dental team. Choose by concern rather than job title. A dental nurse facing a confidentiality concern would start with the confidentiality course, then reflect on how the learning applies within their own scope of practice.
Can I keep working while the GDC investigates?
In most cases, yes. Your registration is unaffected unless an interim order is made. The Interim Orders Committee can impose interim conditions or an interim suspension, for up to 18 months, if it decides there is a serious or immediate risk. Interim orders are reviewed every six months. Remediation evidence can be relevant at review hearings, so keep your bundle up to date.
How long does each course take?
Each course is self-paced and available immediately after purchase. Most are 2 CPD hours with 15 multiple choice questions. The Fitness to Practise course is 4 CPD hours with 40 questions. The pass mark is 80%. Every course includes a structured reflective account and a downloadable CPD certificate showing your name, the course title and the CPD hours.
Official sources
This page was checked against General Dental Council guidance in October 2026. Processes and guidance change, so always confirm the current position with the regulator and your adviser. This page is general information, not legal advice.
- GDC: How we investigate public protection issues or concerns
- GDC: Case examiners
- GDC: Case Examiner Guidance Manual
- GDC: Fitness to Practise: Guidance for the practice committees
- Dental Professionals Hearings Service: Guidance for dental professionals, cases referred for an Interim Orders Committee hearing
- GDC: Exploring remediation in Fitness to Practise at the General Dental Council
- GDC: Exploring new ways for setting standards and guidance
- GDC consults on fitness to practise guidance to support fairer, more proportionate decisions