Clinical governance policies that you already have in place will contribute to your practice being effective in safeguarding children. Some examples are:

• complaints procedures so that children or parents attending your practice can raise any concerns about the actions of your staff that may put children at risk of harm
• public interest disclosure policy (or ‘whistleblowing’ policy) so that staff can raise concerns if practice procedures or action of other staff members puts children at risk of harm
• code of conduct for staff clarifying the conduct necessary for ethical practice, particularly related to maintaining appropriate boundaries in relationships with children and young people (e.g. including a statement that staff members will be chaperoned when attending to unaccompanied children)
• guidelines on use of restraint (or ‘physical intervention’) so that staff know how to intervene appropriately for children unable to comply with dental care ³³
• consent policy and procedures as discussed above.

These are just a few examples. For a comprehensive checklist of further policies, procedures and good practice guidelines of relevance to child abuse, domestic violence and abuse of vulnerable adults see ‘The Management of Abuse: a resource manual for the dental team’.³⁴

Back to top