Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 5 Nov 2002

Vol. 556 No. 3

Written Answers. - Orthodontic Service.

Jim O'Keeffe

Ceist:

545 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of children who are awaiting orthodontic treatment and assessment in each of the health board areas; and the waiting time for assessment and treatment in respect of each health board area. [20252/02]

Minister for Health and Children (Mr. Martin)

The provision of orthodontic treatment to eligible persons is the statutory responsibility of the health boards in the first instance. I am pleased to advise the Deputy that I have taken a number of measures to improve orthodontic services on a national basis.

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 universit ies 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.

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. 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 chief executive officers of the health boards have informed me of the following information on their orthodontic waiting lists as at the end of the June 2002 quarter:

		Assessment Waiting List					Treatment Waiting List
Health Board		Average Waiting Time (Months)	Category A	Waiting Time (Months)	Category B	Waiting time (Months)
SWAHB	4,422	*	75	18-24	427	36
ECAHB	293		5		639
NAHB	4,248	84	51		62
Midland	197	3	Nil	No Waiting Time	498	11
Mid-Western	2,243	24-36	Nil	No Waiting Time	911	24-36
North-Eastern	0	No Waiting Time	11	1.5-2	371	20
North-Western	457	6	267	17	1,504	40
South-Eastern	353	3-3.5	Nil	No Waiting Time	445	12

		Assessment Waiting List					Treatment Waiting List
Health Board		Average Waiting Time (Months)	Category A	Waiting Time (Months)	Category B	Waiting time (Months)
Southern	6,068	According to Date of Birth. Currently February 1988	Nil	No Waiting Time	3,800	45
Western	734	12	Nil	No Waiting Time	1,115	30-36

*Category A patients have an average waiting time of three months for assessment, category B have an average waiting time of >60 months for assessment.

Patients in category A require immediate treatment and include those with congenital abnormalities of the jaws such as cleft lip and palate, and patients with major skeletal discrepancies between the sizes of the jaws. Patients in category B have less severe problems than category A patients and are placed on the orthodontic treatment waiting list.

The chief executive officers of the health boards have further informed me that at the end of the June 2002 quarter, there were 19,055 patients in orthodontic treatment in the health boards. This is an increase of 1,760 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. For children who are placed on a waiting list for treatment, the initiatives and structural changes that I have set out above will bring about an improvement in waiting times for treatment and positively impact on the future delivery of orthodontic services in the longer term.