The specialist advisory committee in orthodontics and paediatric dentistry of the Joint Committee for Specialist Training in Dentistry, a UK-Irish body, carried out a visitation of a number of the regional orthodontic units for the purpose of assessing their suitability for the provision of specialist training in orthodontics. The visit to St. Finbarr's Hospital took place on 24 April 1999.
The members of the committee who visited Cork were Mr. P. A. Cook, Mr. J. K. Williams and Professor C. D. Stephens. Following this visit the committee wrote to the Southern Health Board and informed the relevant personnel that the programme at St. Finbarr's could not be approved for training purposes. The committee recognised that the regional orthodontic unit at St. Finbarr's offered potential for training but that this could only occur as part of a properly drawn up formal three-year training programme. Such a programme would have to incorporate the orthodontic department at a university dental school for the academic and didactic aspects of training. The committee gave detailed recommendations to the Southern Health Board to enable the board to improve its training facilities prior to any re-inspection.
The committee noted that with only a single academic full-time in the orthodontic unit in Cork University dental school and Hospital, the resources for postgraduate training were limited and, therefore, recommended that until a further full-time senior academic orthodontist be appointed that no full-time trainees at Cork dental school be trained; the committee went on to recommend that once a senior full-time academic had been appointed, that the number of trainees could be increased. The committee also stated that the university dental schools must provide adequate documentation regarding academic timetables, course manuals and reading lists in line with other academic establishments.
The number of patients who were being treated annually by the orthodontists in training prior to the visit by the specialist advisory committee is not available in my Department.
