Denis Naughten
Question:90 Mr. Naughten asked the Minister for Health and Children the action he intends to take to address the waiting times for orthodontic treatment. [5407/02]
Vol. 549 No. 1
90 Mr. Naughten asked the Minister for Health and Children the action he intends to take to address the waiting times for orthodontic treatment. [5407/02]
102 Mr. J. Mitchell asked the Minister for Health and Children the action he intends to take to address the long waiting lists for orthodontic treatment. [5847/02]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 90 and 102 together.
The provision of orthodontic treatment to eligible persons is the statutory responsibility of the health boards in the first instance.
The chief executive officers of the health boards have informed me that at the end of the December 2001 quarter, there were 17,295 patients in orthodontic treatment in the health boards. This is an increase of 3,086 patients in orthodontic treatment when compared with the number of patients in treatment in May 1999. I expect that the number of patients in orthodontic treatment will continue to increase as the measures that I have taken to improve orthodontic services take effect.
Structural changes are being introduced into the orthodontic service, such as the creation of the grade of specialist in orthodontics, the development of specialist training programmes and the creation of an auxiliary grade of orthodontic therapist to work in the orthodontic area. Six dentists from the Eastern Regional Health Authority, North-Eastern Health Board and South-Eastern Health Board commenced their training last October for specialist in orthodontics qualifications. My Department provided €0.541 million in 2002 for specialist in orthodontics training. Furthermore, three dentists from the Western Health Board and North-Eastern Health Board are already in specialist training for orthodontics and this brings the total number of dentists in such training to nine. Discussions on providing an additional training course to commence this year are also under way.