Appoint a dental team member to take the lead on child protection.
Contact your local Health Board to obtain your local child protection procedures, and keep a copy to hand (see Child Protection Contacts in NHS Boards).
(Note that these procedures are developed by Child Protection Committees (CPCs) in Scotland and Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) in England).
Establish the appropriate point of contact within your local health board or local authority to whom you would report your initial concerns about a child.
Put in place a practice policy on child protection, and step-by-step procedures to follow in the case of suspected child abuse or neglect. Ensure that these are in line with your local CPC [1] child protection procedures and include the name of a designated person with whom to share initial concerns with.
NB: Refer to the British Society of Paediatric Dentistry Policy document [2] for examples of putting systems in place.
Ensure that other practice policies and procedures are in place to protect children’s needs and rights e.g. complaints procedure, procedures for obtaining valid consent [see Communication].
Ensure staff are trained in child protection procedures, and are kept up to date with any changes.
Ensure recruitment of staff takes account of the need to protect children, and ensure all staff who have access to children are members of the Protecting Vulnerable Groups Scheme (if undertaking regulated work), or undergo a Disclosure Scotland check [3].
Practice good record-keeping (see Record-keeping and What to do if you're worried about a child).
Access resources on how to prepare your practice to safeguard children, including good practice points for record-keeping [2,3,4]