Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 9 April 2024
1508. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Health to set aside funding to reintroduce a foundation training scheme to facilitate new dental graduates to gain experience in a mentored environment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14873/24]
View answerMentoring is an important aspect of career development. It provides a structured environment for individuals to set and achieve goals and to develop skills. One of the key actions of the National Oral Health Policy, Smile agus Sláinte, is to evaluate graduate education and put lifelong postgraduate mentoring and supervisory networks in place to support dentists after study and throughout their professional career.
Smile agus Sláinte, sets out a new model of oral healthcare delivery. This policy focuses on a primary oral healthcare approach that will enable greater access to care by examining the training, roles and regulation of dental health professionals.
As part of this, undergraduate dental education will need to be realigned with the Policy by placing primary oral healthcare at its centre. The primary oral healthcare approach represents a significant change which requires an education system, both at undergraduate and graduate level, to ensure that the profession can respond to the oral healthcare needs of the entire population. In addition, ensuring that a sufficient breadth of skills is maintained in the profession will enable it to be flexible and responsive as the population’s oral health needs change.
In that context, while my Department is aware of the foundation training scheme that was previously in place, this would consist of additional training required after completion of undergraduate training to qualify a person to register and to provide care. It should be the case that graduates do not need to apply for and complete a separate qualification before they can practise. If a higher qualification is to be required, students should progress automatically, as is the case in other disciplines like pharmacy whereby a masters year is included, so that they are fully qualified to practise upon graduation.
The Foundation Training Scheme isn’t as broad as the policy approach of putting in place postgraduate mentoring and supervisory networks. The National Oral Health Policy approach seeks to develop a framework for postgraduate mentoring and supervisory networks to support oral healthcare professionals, throughout their careers.
The intention is to support oral healthcare professionals by providing mentoring programmes as well as forms of Continuous Professional Development (CPD). Such CPD can include long distance and online courses which would be accessible to oral healthcare professionals.
