Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 22 May 2001

Vol. 536 No. 5

Written Answers. - Orthodontic Service.

Jim Mitchell

Ceist:

214 Mr. J. Mitchell asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of people awaiting orthodontic treatment in respect of the three health boards in the Dublin area; the longest time people must wait for this treatment; the average time people wait for this treatment; this steps he proposes to take to reduce these waiting lists; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14897/01]

Jim Mitchell

Ceist:

215 Mr. J. Mitchell asked the Minister for Health and Children if his attention has further been drawn to a case of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 9 who has been waiting treatment since her tenth birthday and has been informed in the past week that she is unlikely to receive treatment in the next six months; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14898/01]

Minister for Health and Children (Mr. Martin)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 214 and 215 together.

The provision of orthodontic services to persons in Dublin is the responsibility of the Eastern Regional Health Authority or ERHA in the first instance. The chief executive officer of the ERHA has informed me that the person concerned was placed on the category II orthodontic assessment waiting list in November 1994. High priority cases – category I – are dealt with on a priority basis. She was assessed and deemed eligible for treatment by the authority in February 1999 but due in part to a loss of qualified orthodontic staff, there were delays in providing orthodontic treatment. The chief executive of the authority has advised me that it hopes to issue this young person with an appointment in the coming weeks.

I recognise that the waiting times for orthodontic treatment are unacceptably long. At the invitation of my Department, a group representative of health board management and consultant orthodontists reviewed the orthodontic services. The objective of this review was to ensure equity in the provision of orthodontic treatment throughout the health boards. Following this review structural changes are being introduced in the orthodontic services. These changes include the creation of the grade of specialist in orthodontics, the development of specialist training programmes and the creation of a grade of auxiliary dental worker to work in the orthodontic area. However, it will be some time before these structural changes impact significantly on service levels. Consequently, I asked health boards to develop proposals to make an immediate significant impact on their waiting lists. An additional investment of £5.3 million has been approved for orthodontic services this year, of which £3.7 million is to fund an initiative on orthodontic waiting lists. The ERHA has been allocated an additional £2.34 million this year for orthodontic services of which £1.61 million was for the orthodontic initiative. The chief executive officer of ERHA has advised me of the following developments in the region in relation to its initiative to improve its orthodontic services: an additional consultant orthodontist has been appointed; the recruitment of another two consultant orthodontists is currently in train; two orthodontic specialists have been recruited and a further recruitment drive is in progress to recruit four more; interviews to recruit three managers to manage the orthodontic services in the three area health boards have taken place and their appointments are under way; interviews for posts of dental surgery assistants in the East Coast Area Health Board have been completed and the recruitment process for the successful candidates is almost finalised. A competition in respect of similar posts in the other area health boards is being organised; a competition to fill the posts of dental hygienist in the area health boards will commence shortly; the previously vacant post of superintendent radi ographer at the regional orthodontic unit in St. James' hospital has been filled. A similar post for the Loughlinstown Unit has been filled on a locum basis; a six surgery facility at the Loughlinstown regional orthodontic unit has been developed and is currently being equipped; the equipping of an additional five surgery unit at the St. James' hospital orthodontic unit is being completed; the Northern Area Health Board is currently progressing plans for the development of a new regional orthodontic unit to be located on the grounds of James Connolly Memorial Hospital; the working group established in the ERHA to report on the implementation of the grant-in-aid scheme is currently continuing its work to finalise the scheme; validation of existing waiting lists is currently in progress; and agreement has been reached between the ERHA and the Dublin Dental Hospital on the training of specialists to work in orthodontics. Four dentists from the ERHA will commence training in 2001.

The initiative in the ERHA will enable an additional 3,000 patients on the assessment waiting list to commence treatment. The most recent approximate figures from the ERHA on assessment and treatment waiting lists in the area health boards, received by my Department on 17 May 2001, is as follows:

Health Board	AssessmentWaiting List	TreatmentWaiting List
East Coast Area Health Board	2,050	40
Northern Area Health Board	4,520	374
South-Western Area HealthBoard	4,560	533
Totals	11,130	947

The longest waiting time experienced in the ERHA for orthodontic assessment is six years while the average waiting time is three years. The average waiting time for orthodontic treatment is two years.