asked the Minister for Health if, in view of the fact that dental services in Donegal are inferior to the rest of the country, he will take steps to bring the services up to the level of the rest of the country.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Donegal Dental Services.
21.
I do not accept that the dental services made available by the health authority in County Donegal are inferior to the rest of the country.
A senior dental officer was appointed by the health authority in September, 1967, to organise and improve its dental services. This was the only whole-time dental officer then employed by the health authority. Meanwhile, three further whole-time dental officers have been appointed and, in addition, 12 private dentists in various parts of the county provide services on a part-time basis.
Estimated expenditure by the health authority on dental services in the current financial year is £27,850. This is substantially greater than the corresponding figure, namely £8,765, for 1967-68, and compares favourably with the provision made by other health authorities for dental services in the present financial year.
Thus, within recent years, there has been a considerable improvement in the dental services provided in County Donegal and the health authority is endeavouring to improve the services further by the appointment of additional whole-time staff.
The Minister must be aware that parents generally are concerned and feel that school-medical inspections are run down at certain times of the year because the people controlling and organising the school medical inspections are fully alive to the fact that all the inspections made will not be dealt with. The recent report by the dental committee indicated that, in Donegal, the services were far below those in the rest of the country.
The dental services are not as good as they could be in this country. It is a question of establishing priorities.
I am concerned about the country as a whole but, in this particular instance, I am concerned about Donegal.
The situation may apply in Donegal. The best thing to do is to be quite frank about it and to say that there is an immense list of objectives in my Department and one of them is an improvement in the dental services. Having regard to the cost of the health services and hospitals services as a whole, there must be an element of priority. We attempt to look after all the urgently needy cases for dental care.
People entitled to this treatment have been told by the county manager, in a letter addressed to me, that they would have to wait up to two years for dental treatment. Is the Minister now defending this and telling us he has increased the services and is proud of that?
I am not defending anything at all in that respect. In this and in every other country there is still a great deal to be done in the improvement of the health services. It is true that there are arrears of people waiting for dentures. There is a scarcity of dentists in the country. Furthermore, there is the question of the priority we can give in relation to the great number of measures we consider essential for the improvement of the health services.
Next question.
Mr. Harte rose.
Question No. 22.