The provision of orthodontic services is a matter for the health boards in the first instance. Children in treatment in the health board orthodontic service receive between 18 to 24 appointments over the course of their treatment period of approximately two years. The chief executive officers of the health boards and the ERHA have informed my Department that at the end of the September 2004 quarter, there were 22,168 patients in receipt of orthodontic treatment and 11,041 patients awaiting orthodontic treatment. This means that there are over twice as many patients getting orthodontic treatment as there are waiting to be treated and more than 6,000 extra patients are getting treatment from the health boards and the ERHA since the end of the September 2001 quarter.