asked the Minister for Health the number of child welfare clinics in Ireland; and the total number of children who have received dental examination in these clinics in each of the past five years.
387.
Written Answers. - School Health Examination.
386.
asked the Minister for Health the number of primary school children who have received dental examination under the school health examination programme in each of the last five years to the latest available date; and the proportion of all primary school children these figures represent.
With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle I propose to answer Questions Nos. 386 and 387 together.
Child welfare clinics, including developmental paediatric examinations, are conducted at 112 centres throughout the country.
Separate records are not maintained in respect of pre-school children who receive their initial dental examination in such clinics. Many health boards do not distinguish between national school and pre-school children examined under the child health services in the records of examinations which they maintain and consequently separate national figures for these two groups are not available. However, set out below is a table indicating the number, and the proportion, of eligible children examined dentally in the years 1972-76. It is considered that the proportions quoted would also represent generally the proportion of national school children examined in these years.
|
Year |
Number of Children Examined |
% of eligible Children Examined |
|
1972 |
253,396 |
42.2% |
|
1973 |
257,231 |
42.9% |
|
1974 |
283,212 |
47.2% |
|
1975 |
268,769 |
44.8% |
|
1976 |
280,167 |
46.7% |
388.
asked the Minister for Health the proportion of all primary school children who have received dental examination (a) once, (b) twice, (c) three times, and (d) more than three times, under the school health examination programme in the last seven years.
The information requested by the Deputy cannot be abstracted from the returns submitted to my Department by the health boards. Their abstraction from the records maintained by health boards would take a considerable amount of time and, I am informed, in the case of some, if not all, health boards would involve an examination of the dental treatment records of all school children examined and treated during the last seven years. In some cases these records would have been forwarded by now to adult clinics. In effect, therefore, the treatment records of all adults as well as children would have to be examined over a seven-year period to obtain the information requested.
I am reluctant to impose a task of this magnitude upon the public dental service which, as the Deputy is aware, is understaffed in relation to the treatment requirements it has to fulfil.
389.
asked the Minister for Health the number of (a) doctors, (b) dental surgeons and (c) public health nurses at present employed under the school health examination programme.
(a) There are 128 posts of area medical officer in the community care service, dealing with all aspects of community care, including school health examinations.
(b) One hundred and ninety-four wholetime dentists are employed in the public dental service. A number of private practitioners are also employed on a part-time basis. It is estimated that the total complement available at present amounts to the equivalent of 222 wholetime dentists. The bulk of their time is devoted to the school health services but they do, of course, also provide services for pre-school children and for eligible adults and adolescents.
(c) There are 1,045 approved posts of public health nurse. About 130 of these are assigned to headquarters duties and about 70 per cent of all school health examination work is carried out by such nurses. The remaining 30 per cent of the work is carried out by nurses employed on district duties.
390.
asked the Minister for Health the policy of his Department with regard to the frequency of school health examinations in this country's primary schools.
The policy of my Department in relation to the school health examination service is to provide a full comprehensive medical examination for each child towards the end of his first year at primary school and selective examinations for older school-going children who may have given cause for concern on health grounds to their parents, teachers, or to public health nurses. It is considered desirable that schools with over 50 pupils should be visited annually and that smaller schools be visited at least once every two years.
391.
asked the Minister for Health the amount allocated to dental services in each of the last ten years; and the proportion of total health expenditure these figures represent.
As the reply is in the form of a tabular statement, I propose, with the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, to have it circulated with the Official Report.
The following is the statement:—
|
Year |
Expenditure on Dental Services |
Proportion of Total Health Expenditure |
|
£'000 |
% |
|
|
1968-69 |
0.487 |
1.03 |
|
1969-70 |
0.549 |
0.98 |
|
1970-71 |
0.678 |
0.93 |
|
1971-72 |
0.908 |
1.06 |
|
1972-73 |
1.100 |
1.02 |
|
1973-74 |
1.708 |
1.21 |
|
1974 (9 months) |
1.599 |
1.20 |
|
1975 |
2.621 |
1.08 |
|
1976 |
3.268 |
1.18 |
|
1977 |
3.972 |
1.21 |