The provision of orthodontic services is a matter for the health boards in the first instance. I am aware of concerns about orthodontic services and consequently I have taken a range of measures to improve them nationally.
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 and the health boards are funding 13 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 13 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. Thus, there is an aggregate of 20 dentists in specialist training for orthodontics. Additional funding of €0.640 million and €0.894 million was provided for these training programmes in 2002 and 2003 respectively. 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.
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 in 2001 of which €4.698 million was to fund an initiative on orthodontic waiting lists. This is enabling health boards to recruit additional staff, engage the services of private specialist orthodontic practitioners to treat patients and build additional orthodontic facilities.