Breeda Moynihan-Cronin
Ceist:214 Mrs. B. Moynihan-Cronin asked the Minister for Health and Children when it is proposed to appoint a new orthodontist for County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18565/02]
Written Answers. - Orthodontic Service.
Breeda Moynihan-Cronin
Ceist:218 Mrs. B. Moynihan-Cronin asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of patients on waiting lists for orthodontic treatment in the Southern Health Board area at present; the numbers who are waiting less than six months, between six and 12 months and more than 12 months; the number of these who are in County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18569/02]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 214 and 218 together.
The provision of orthodontic treatment to eligible persons in this area is the statutory responsibility of the Southern Health Board in the first instance. The information in the format requested by the Deputy is not routinely collected by my Department. Therefore, the chief executive officer of the Southern Health Board has been requested to respond to the Deputy directly in this matter.
I am pleased to advise the Deputy that I have taken a number of measures to improve orthodontic services in the Southern Health Board area and on a national basis. In the short-term, I have funded an orthodontic initiative to ease current pressures on the system. Additional funding of €6.729 million was approved for orthodontic services last year of which €4.698 million was to fund an initiative on orthodontic waiting lists. This is enabling health boards to recruit additional staff and engage the services of private specialist orthodontic practitioners to treat patients. The Southern Health Board was allocated an additional €1.191 million last year for orthodontic services of which €1.032 million was for the orthodontic initiative. Under the initiative, the board proposes tointer-alia, recruit an additional two consultant orthodontists, one of which will be based in Tralee. The chief executive officer of the Southern Health Board has informed me that the board recently advertised this position through the Local Appointments Commission but on this occasion, no eligible applicants applied for the position. The board will again consider the possibility of advertising the post at the earliest opportunity.
Last June, my Department provided additional funding of €5 million from the treatment purchase fund to health boards specifically for the purchase of orthodontic treatment. This funding is enabling boards to provide both additional sessions for existing staff and purchase treatment from private specialist orthodontic practitioners. The Southern Health Board were allocated an additional €0.720 million from this fund and have informed my Department that it expects to treat an additional 246 orthodontic patients who are on waiting lists for treatment.
My Department has funded the recruitment of a professor in orthodontics at Cork University Dental School to facilitate the development of an approved training programme leading to specialist qualification in orthodontics. Capital funding of approximately €1.269 million was also provided to the orthodontics unit there for its refurbishment to an appropriate standard.
The grade of specialist in orthodontics has been created in the health board orthodontic service. The introduction of this pivotal grade will have a tremendous impact on the future delivery of orthodontics in the public service. Ultimately, it will address the issues of recruitment and retention of qualified clinical personnel in the service.
This year, my Department expects to fund 11 dentists from various health boards for specialist in orthodontics qualifications at training programmes in Ireland and at two separate universities in the United Kingdom. These 11 trainees for the public orthodontic service are additional to the six dentists who commenced their training last year and one dentist whose specialist training is nearing completion. This is an aggregate of 18 public service dentists currently in training for specialist in orthodontics qualifications.
The training programmes concerned provide a broad academic background and experience in different clinical treatment methods and are made possible by co-operation between health boards, health board consultant orthodontists and dental teaching institutions.
These measures will complement the other structural changes being introduced into the orthodontic service, including the creation of an auxiliary grade of orthodontic therapist to work in the orthodontic area. The grade of orthodontic therapist will act as a support to the consultant orthodontist, specialists and other dentists working in the orthodontic unit thus enabling a greater volume of treatment.
The chief executive officer of the Southern Health Board has advised me that at the end of the June 2002 quarter, there were 2,932 patients in orthodontic treatment in the board. This is an increase of approximately 632 patients in orthodontic treatment when compared with the number of patients in treatment in December 2001. I expect that the number of patients in orthodontic treatment will continue to increase as the measures that I have taken to improve orthodontic services take effect.