asked the Minister for Health, further to his reply to Parliamentary Question No. 61 of 15 March 1988 regarding orthodontic treatment within the North Eastern Health Board for children attending Cavan County Clinic, County Cavan, if he has received a report as promised from the Minister of State at his Department with regard to dental services; if he will reconsider giving permission to parents to take their children to private practitioners to have their children treated, as the advice by the North Eastern Health Board to parents to take their children to practitioners in Northern Ireland is not satisfactory; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Dental Services.
13.
The promised review of dental services has been carried out by a small working group under the chairmanship of my colleague, Deputy Terry Leyden, (Minister of State at my Department) and I am at present examining the findings and recommendations contained in the Working Group's report. In regard to orthodontic services in the North Eastern Health Board the position is that the board already avail of the services of private specialist orthodontists to treat eligible patients but this is not sufficient to meet the demand for such treatment in the area. However, the health board is assessing all cases on the waiting list and is finding that considerable numbers do not have conditions meriting the provision of treatment under the terms of the guidelines laid down by my Department.
Arrangements are being made at present between the North Eastern Health Board and the Dublin Dental Hospital for the post-graduate training in orthodontics of a dental surgeon sponsored by the health board. Under this arrangement a certain amount of orthodontic treatment will be provided in the Dublin Dental Hospital specifically for North Eastern Health Board patients. This should lead to a considerable improvement in the availability of orthodontic treatment for North Eastern Health Board patients.
Is the Minister aware that there is a seven year waiting list at the Cavan County Clinic for orthodontic treatment, that there are 1,500 children on that waiting list and that with the present progress being made there is a possibility that a large number of children will not be treated? Is the Minister also aware that there are many serious cases on that waiting list and that although I have made every effort to have the orthodontist see them and have them treated, I have failed?
The health board are assessing all the cases on the waiting list and they are finding that considerable numbers do not have conditions meriting treatment under the terms of the guidelines laid down by my Department. Arrangements are being made between the North Eastern Health board and the Dublin dental hospital for the training of a postgraduate dentist in orthodontics, and that will help to alleviate the situation. It is important to remind the House that when advertisements were placed for five orthodontists to cover the eight health board areas, only one post was filled because of the unavailability of orthodontists to take up the other four posts.
That is scandalous.
(Interruptions.)
In view of the waiting time outlined by my colleague, Deputy Boylan, does the Minister agree that the waiting time is entirely unsatisfactory, particularly as during that time malformation is taking place in young people's teeth and gums so that by the time these patients are reached the malformations will be beyond correction? Would the Minister agree that it is a little foolish to talk about training dentists — although that is a good thing for those who will come along in a few years time — and that it is not a sufficient remedy for those who are on the waiting list now? If the Minister does not get in private dentists or dentists from Northern Ireland a whole generation will have malformed teeth.
We are talking about the orthodontic services. There are dentists in the public service and this is a question of training a dentist to do orthodontic work. I consider it unacceptable that people have to wait for an orthodontic service but as the House is aware four health boards were unable to recruit orthodontists when they advertised for established posts. The North Eastern Health board are taking a reasonable course in having an orthodontist trained in the Dublin dental hospital. While that is happening priority cases from the North Eastern Health Board area will be attended to in the Dublin dental hospital.
Is the Minister aware that the average cost of private orthodontic treatment for children is somewhere in the region of £1,200 and that many parents cannot afford this. Will the Minister allow the publication of the report of the working group which refers to the high cost of orthodontic service in this country?
I can give the Deputy the information as to what the working party chaired by Deputy Leyden recommended in relation to orthodontic treatment. They recommended that the health boards who had been unsuccessful in filling posts of consultant orthodontist should make a further effort to do so. They also recommended that the Dental Hospital should give priority in the provision of orthodontic treatment to eligible children referred by the health boards. We are looking at those recommendations to see how they might be implemented.
Will the Minister publish the report?
We will consider it.
A brief question from Deputy Boylan and then from Deputy Howlin.
Can I take it that parents who bring their children to the Dental Hospital in Dublin will be fully compensated by the Minister's Department for the costs incurred?
We will take responsibility for eligible patients who are referred by the health board.
Will the Minister accept that a seven-year waiting list for orthodontic treatment is a national scandal? Will he accept that he as Minister is personally responsible for the administration of the health services? Will he indicate not what will happen in a decade's time but what he intends to do to remedy the plight of all these children in a region of our country and provide them with an adequate service. The notion of indicating that a service is available in Dublin is inadequate. That service is already under siege by people who live along the east coast.
This is not a new problem, and the Deputy's party were in office for four years.
Answer the question. Do not play politics with children.
The then Minister tried without success to recruit orthodontists in the health board areas. Of course I find the situation unacceptable. The previous Minister found in relation to the orthodontic service that it was not just a question of resources but of the unavailability of orthodontists to take up posts in the public service.
What does the Minister intend to do about it?
First, we set up a working group. We have received the results and we are already implementing some of the decisions. I am glad to be able to tell Deputy Boylan that the North Eastern Health Board have taken very positive action to ensure that those on the priority list who need orthodontic treatment will receive it.
The favoured health board.
We have encroached somewhat on time allocated for priority questions.
I have to give notice before a certain time that I wish to raise on the Adjournment the present crisis conditions in the Regional Hospital, Galway, and the failure of the Minister to appoint representatives of Galway Corporation to the Western Health Board.
I will communicate with the Deputy. Priority Question No. 71, please.