New article from the Dental Tribune: ‘Child Protection – a huge responsibility, a moral obligation’.
A recent article published by the Dental Tribune has suggested that dental practices are in a key position to spot potential signs of child abuse.
The article states that dental professionals have a ‘huge responsibility [and] a moral obligation’ to prevent the mistreatment of children. It points to the importance of sharing information and concerns about suspected child abuse and following the necessary procedures within a practice and at local and national level.
The article goes on to classify the four types of abuse – physical, emotional, sexual and neglect; with particular emphasis on how dental staff are in the ideal situation to spot and act upon signs of abuse.
The key findings of the article highlight:
- the need for staff to undertake regular child protection and safeguarding training
- the need to write a child protection policy with Local Child Protection details included
- the need to nominate a member of staff as the ‘Lead on child protection’
- the need to practise safe staff recruitment procedures.
To help you promote a culture of vigilance in your dental setting, please take advantage of EduCare for Health, an online learning service containing 10 safeguarding and duty of care courses.
EduCare for Health is designed to provide pre-inspection assurance that you comply with the requirements of third party inspection bodies – for example, the Care Quality Commission ‘essential standards’ in Outcomes 9, 10, 12 and 14. Each of the 10 courses has its own downloadable, personalised certificate to evidence learning and they all count towards staff CPD hours.
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Read the full article by the Dental Tribune here.
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