The British Dental Association (BDA) has launched a new toolkit to support safeguarding of children and young people who miss appointments, often for reasons beyond their control.
Representing a break from the 'did not attend' pathway, the new approach which was first developed by community dentistry professionals at Charles Clifford Dental Services, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, recognises that children do not 'call the shots' on whether they attend appointments. The 'was not brought' pathway, 'WNB-CYP', was published in the BDJ1 and is now available for all dentists and teams to use via the BDA website.2
The toolkit is a step-by-step guide to managing the pathway in dental practices.3 It offers a flowchart for action and downloadable template letters to help the team follow a standardised approach which will keep young patients safe. It will help practices to identify at each stage of the process which other healthcare professionals they need to communicate and share information with if they are worried about patients facing dental neglect.
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The pathway was developed by Jenny Harris, Consultant in Paediatric Dentistry working in Community and Special Care Dentistry at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, recognised in 2018 as an NSPCC Honorary Member of Council for pioneering work in safeguarding children, including developing Child Protection and the Dental Team; and Jen Kirby, Leadership Fellow and Speciality Registrar in Paediatric Dentistry, whose work on the project was funded by Health Education England.
Charlotte Waite, Chair of the BDA's England Community Dental Services Committee, said: 'This new pathway is an important step forward to keeping children and young people safe. Young children do not call the shots on attending appointments, so for many health professionals treating them the term "did not attend" has never been applicable. This "was not brought" toolkit is designed to help the whole dental team, and provide practical help on making this important distinction'.
References
Kirby J, Harris J C. Development and evaluation of a 'was not brought' pathway: a team approach to managing children's missed dental appointments. Br Dent J 2019; 227: 291-297.
British Dental Association. Advice and Services: Safeguarding. Available at: https://www.bda.org/safeguarding (accessed September 2019).
British Dental Association. Implementing 'Was Not Brought' in your practice. A tool for safeguarding children who miss appointments. September 2019. Available at: https://bda.org/dentists/advice/Documents/Was%20Not%20Brought%20implementation%20guide%20AW.pdf (accessed September 2019).
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New toolkit for safeguarding children who miss appointments. BDJ Team 6, 5 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41407-019-0178-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41407-019-0178-3
