Sir, I was saddened to read of the problems relating to abuse that some dental surgeries face including that in which your correspondent S. Abassalty is practice manager (BDJ 2007; 202: 56). I would therefore like to bring to readers' attention the great deal of work now being done to prevent such incidents occurring, and to support staff members if they are unfortunate enough to be subjected to violence or abuse.

The NHS Security Management Service is currently working with the police to ensure that all incidents of violence and abuse against staff providing NHS services are investigated. There is also guidance available from the NHS SMS for NHS staff dealing with abusive patients (see http://www.cfsms.nhs.uk/pubs/sms.gen.pubs.html). Training in conflict resolution should in addition be provided for all frontline staff providing NHS services through the commissioning PCT. This includes administrative and reception staff where they come into contact with members of the public in the course of their work.

It is, however, vital that all incidents of violence or abuse are reported to the Local Security Management Specialist within the local PCT promptly. This ensures that action can be taken and lessons learned to inform future measures taken on a national basis.

Abuse is a problem which can have very serious effects on those who experience it, but the NHS SMS is committed to helping those on the NHS frontline. With accurate and timely reporting from primary care staff, the NHS SMS and locally based NHS security management specialists can do a great deal to support staff members who are the victims of abuse or violence.