Consultant orthodontist and ARC NWC Intern Madhavi Seshu works with children who are receiving cleft lip and palate treatment at Alder Hey Hospital.

The qualitative research Madhavi is undertaking has been funded by Alder Hey children’s hospital charity and the ARC NWC, consisting of interviewing parents from different ethnicities, languages and socio- economic backgrounds to understand the barriers to access dental care.

Madhavi commenced, “I have been a clinician for 18 years and realise that health outcomes depend not only on clinical care provided but also on social determinants. Health and social inequalities related to healthcare is a national, regional and local priority for NHS, the Alder Hey cleft team covers many deprived areas in North-West England, North Wales and Isle of Mann.”

Dental extraction is the most common reason for general anaesthetic in the UK for children. Prevention and early treatment of decay is paramount with access to dental care.

Madhavi expanded on this, “As a clinician, I felt that aiming to resolve the issues around health inequalities could make a significant difference to outcomes, patient and clinician satisfaction. Taking into consideration deprivation, ethnicity, languages and cultural differences may help to bridge the gap between good and poor outcomes.”

The Patient and Public contributors for Madhavi’s research project have assisted by giving a real-world context to the project including conveying messages in a visual form in addition to the written word.

“The Patient and Public contributors have suggested changes to Parent and guardian information sheet, consent form and research proposal to make it easier for parents to understand and relate to research. The support from NIHR, ARC NWC and my project supervisor Prof. S. Albadri have been invaluable for the progress of this project”.

Madhavi is aiming to liaise with stakeholders, parents, patients, general dentists, community dentists to ensure the findings of the project can be implemented. “The solution for healthcare inequalities should be led by service users rather than clinicians and policy makers.
The implementation of this research project will involve appropriate information related to access to dental care for parents, liaising with local dentists after understanding the barriers and developing a personalised care model for patients.”

Please contact Madhavi on for more information on (mseshu@nhs.net).