Sir Cliff’s victory: Why registrants with the General Dental Council should care.

From RadcliffesLeBrasseur via Lexology

At the heart of the judgment in Richard v BBC lies the significant determination that “as a matter of general principle, a suspect has a reasonable expectation of privacy in relation to a police investigation”.

…..the judgment provides a useful opportunity to consider a long standing and unprincipled disparity between the treatment of doctors and that of dental professionals in the context of fitness to practise investigations….

….Doctors referred to the Interim Orders Tribunal (IOT) can be confident that their hearing will be held in private, unless they specifically elect for a public hearing….

….In stark contrast, dental professionals appearing before the Interim Orders Committee (IOC) of the GDC face a public hearing, unless they can persuade the Committee to exercise its discretion and sit in private….

Full article here.