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A dentist's dilemma: sharing wellbeing concerns to safeguard Scotland's children

British Dental Journal (2022)Cite this article

Abstract

Introduction Over a decade ago, Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC) introduced the 'Named Person' as a central contact with whom professionals could share 'wellbeing' concerns in Scotland, aiming to promote inter-agency working to avoid potential child protection issues. The mandatory 'Named Person' scheme has since been repealed but the professional's responsibility to share concerns at wellbeing level remains.

Aims To explore general dental practitioners' (GDPs') understanding of a child's 'wellbeing', along with the investigation of influencing factors on behaviour when sharing concerns at wellbeing level.

Methods Qualitative one-to-one semi-structured telephone interviews with GDPs. Themes arising from transcriptions were organised into the Theoretical Domains Framework.

Results In total, 11 dentists (five men and six women) participated. Risks to wellbeing included only attending in pain and dental neglect. There was good awareness of the 'Named Person' and triggers to sharing suspicions were identified, which were concern severity, multiple concerns and own intuition. Multiple barriers (eg poor knowledge, fear of consequences, environment) and enablers (eg professional responsibility and influences, positive consequences) influenced decisions to refer. GDPs struggled to differentiate between wellbeing and child protection.

Conclusion Barriers and facilitators to sharing wellbeing suspicions are similar to child protection. GDPs may benefit from further training when safeguarding at a wellbeing level.

Key points

  • Dental professionals are now encouraged to share concerns about a child's wellbeing with other health and social care professionals earlier, so that support for the family can be put in place to enable the best outcome for the child.

  • The barriers to sharing concerns at wellbeing level appear to outweigh the facilitators.

  • Training is recommended to help GDPs differentiate concerns at wellbeing level versus those at child protection level.

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Acknowledgements

Thanks to the Scottish Dental Practice Based Research Network (SDPBRN) for their support and the participating dentists.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Speciality Registrar in Paediatric Dentistry, Edinburgh Dental Institute, Edinburgh, UK

    Hannah Collins

  2. Research Fellow in Implementation Science, University College London, UK

    Gillian Forbes

  3. Consultant in Paediatric Dentistry, Edinburgh Dental Institute, Edinburgh, UK

    Elizabeth M. Roebuck

Authors
  1. Hannah Collins
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  2. Gillian Forbes
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  3. Elizabeth M. Roebuck
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Contributions

Hannah Collins helped with design, data collection, data analysis, drafting the article and final approval of the article for publication. Gillian Forbes helped with design, data analysis, critical revision and final approval of the article for publication. Elizabeth M. Roebuck helped with idea conception, drafting the article and final approval of the article for publication.

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Correspondence to Hannah Collins.

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Collins, H., Forbes, G. & Roebuck, E. A dentist's dilemma: sharing wellbeing concerns to safeguard Scotland's children. Br Dent J (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41415-022-4088-y

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