Written Answers. - Orthodontic Service.
Róisín Shortall
Ceist:
125
Ms Shortall
asked the
Minister for Health and Children
the number of children who have had orthodontic work completed in each of the past five years in the Eastern Regional Health Authority or Eastern Health Board area; the percentage this number represents of the total number of children on the orthodontic waiting list in each of those years; the policy at Departmental level to assist the board in providing free public treatment; the policy at Departmental level to assist the board in providing semi-private treatment; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[18440/01]
The provision of orthodontic services is the responsibility of the health boards in the first instance.
The chief executive officer of the Eastern Regional Health Authority – ERHA – has informed me that 1,436 children were discharged from the authority's orthodontic waiting list since June 2000. This figure is approximately 12.5% of the total number of patients on the orthodontic waiting list at the end of March 2001 quarter. However, the chief executive officer has also informed me that prior to year 2000 the information requested by the Deputy is not currently available.
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 the 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; the recruitment process for three managers to manage the orthodontic services in the three area health boards has been completed; two of the managers will commence duty in July 2001 and the third will take up duty in August 2001; and 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, and the previously vacant post of superintendent radiographer at the regional orthodontic unit in St. James's Hospital unit 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's 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, 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.
A proposal from the ERHA for a grant in aid scheme was approved by my Department. I am informed by the chief executive officer of the ERHA that the working group established in the Northern Area Health Board – NAHB – to report on the scheme's implementation are continuing to considerinter alia, the legal and operational implications of the scheme.
Question No. 126 answered with Question No. 123.
