Dan Neville
Question:306 Mr. Neville asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of children under 18 years of age on waiting lists for orthodontic treatment in each health board area. [18165/02]
Adjournment Debate. - Orthodontic Service.
The provision of orthodontic treatment to eligible persons is the statutory responsibility of the health boards in the first instance. I am pleased to advise the Deputy that I have taken a number of measures to improve orthodontic services on a national basis.
The grade of specialist in orthodontics has been created in the health board orthodontic service. The introduction of this pivotal grade will have a tremendous impact on the future delivery of orthodontics in the public service. Ultimately, it will address the issues of recruitment and retention of qualified clinical personnel in the service.
This year, my Department expects to fund eleven dentists from various health boards for specialist in orthodontics qualifications at training programmes in Ireland and at two separate universities in the United Kingdom. These eleven trainees for the public orthodontic service are additional to the six dentists who commenced their training last year and one dentist whose specialist training is nearing completion. This is an aggregate of 18 public service dentists currently in training for specialist in orthodontics qualifications.
The training programmes concerned provide a broad academic background and experience in different clinical treatment methods and are made possible by co-operation between health boards, health board consultant orthodontists and dental teaching institutions. These measures will complement the other structural changes being introduced into the orthodontic service, including the creation of an auxiliary grade of orthodontic therapist to work in the orthodontic area. The grade of orthodontic therapist will act as a support to the consultant orthodontist, specialists and other dentists working in the orthodontic unit thus enabling a greater volume of treatment.
In the short term, I have funded an orthodontic initiative to ease current pressures on the system. Additional funding of €6.729 million was approved for orthodontic services last year of which €4.698 million was to fund an initiative on orthodontic waiting lists. This is enabling health boards to recruit additional staff and engage the services of private specialist orthodontic practitioners to treat patients.
Last June, my Department provided additional funding of €5 million from the treatment purchase fund to health boards specifically for the purchase of orthodontic treatment. This funding is enabling boards to provide both additional sessions for existing staff and purchase treatment from private specialist orthodontic practitioners.
The Deputy should note that a child who has been assessed and placed on a treatment waiting list, will remain on the list until treatment commences. The chief executive officers of the health boards have informed me of the following information on their orthodontic treatment waiting lists as at the end of the June 2002 quarter, the latest date for which figures are available:
|
Health Board |
Treatment Waiting List |
|
South Western Area |
502 |
|
East Coast Area |
644 |
|
Northern Area |
113 |
|
Midland |
498 |
|
Mid Western |
911 |
|
North Eastern |
382 |
|
North Western |
1,771 |
|
South Eastern |
445 |
|
Southern |
3,800 |
|
Western |
1,115 |
The chief executive officers of the health boards have further informed me that at the end of the June 2002 quarter, there were 19,055 patients in orthodontic treatment in the health boards. This is an increase of 1,760 patients in orthodontic treatment when compared with the number of patients in treatment in December 2001. 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.