Dental Care in Domiciliary Setting Protocol - NHS Bradford and ...

4.3. Referring patients for domiciliary care
• Where possible referrals should be made on the Bradford and Airedale Salaried Dental
Service form (see Appendix 2). As this will provide the information needed to care for
the patient in an appropriate and timely manner.
• In case of emergencies verbal referrals can be accepted and the form completed later.
Urgent referrals can be difficult to fit into an already scheduled working day and both
eligibility for a visit and the degree of urgency will need to be assessed (see section 4.5
below and Appendix 3). Any verbal referrals or urgent requests must be forwarded to
the Dental Office for monitoring purposes.
4.3.1. Referrals are accepted for:
Patients who:
• Have a General Medical Practitioner (GMP) in the Bradford and Airedale district
• Would find it impractical or impossible to attend the dental surgery for dental
treatment ie for some patients with:
o Physical and learning disabilities
o Mental health problems eg Alzheimer’s disease, agoraphobia
o Medical conditions eg terminal illness, chronic obstructive airway disease.
o Patients in hospital, palliative care units and nursing homes (who are unable
to access the General Dental Service)
4.3.2. Referrals are not accepted for:
Patients who:
• are able to access the dental surgery
• are able to travel to the dental surgery with assistance
• claim benefit to allow them to access health services such as the mobility
component of Disability Living Allowance.
4.4. Processing the referral and assessing the eligibility for domiciliary care
Referrals for Domiciliary Care follow the standard process for Bradford and Airedale Salaried
Dental Service (K Drive/SDSDental/Access/Managing referrals).
Once the referral has been received at a member of the triage team will contact the patient and
assess their eligibility for domiciliary care using the eligibility questionnaire (Appendix 3). Once
this has been completed the questionnaire is reviewed by a dentist or other appropriate person,
and a decision is made whether the patient should be assessed at home, or scheduled to
attend the clinic. The flow chart ‘Decision Making Process for Domiciliary Dental Treatment’
(Appendix 4) can be used by the clinician to help make an appropriate decision. Once eligibility
has been confirmed the patient referral is forwarded to the appropriate clinic.
4.5. Referral received at the clinic
Once the referral is received at the clinic the patient details are placed on the domiciliary
waiting list. Patients deemed by the clinician to need urgent assessment (patients who have a
condition recognised as urgent or emergency using the Department of Health Guidelines)
should be seen as soon as practicable by any available dentist.
4.6. Preparation prior to the initial visit.
When the patient comes to the top of the waiting list they or in some circumstances the carer/s
are contacted by the receptionist/dental nurse to arrange an appointment. At this time a pre-
Protocol for Dental Care in a Domiciliary Setting v2 Page 6 of 50
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