Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 11 Feb 2003

Vol. 561 No. 1

Written Answers. - Orthodontic Service.

Jim O'Keeffe

Ceist:

130 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Health and Children if his attention has been drawn to the enormous concerns on the parts of thousands of parents and their children who are unable to access urgently required orthodontic treatment; and his proposals at this stage to improve the availability of the service. [3460/03]

Minister for Health and Children (Mr. Martin):

The provision of orthodontic services is a matter for the health boards in the first instance. I am aware of concerns about orthodontic services and consequently I have taken a range of measures to improve them nationally.

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 and the health boards are funding 13 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 13 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. Thus, there is an aggregate of 20 dentists in specialist training for orthodontics. Additional funding of €0.640 million and €0.894 million was provided for these training programmes in 2002 and 2003 respectively. 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.

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 in 2001 of which €4.698 million was to fund an initiative on orthodontic waiting lists. This is enabling health boards to recruit additional staff, engage the services of private specialist orthodontic practitioners to treat patients and build additional orthodontic facilities.

Last June, my Department provided additional funding of €5 million from the treatment pur chase 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.

Finally, the chief executive officers of the health boards-authority have informed me that at the end of the September 2002 quarter, there were 18,511 patients receiving orthodontic treatment in the public orthodontic service. This is an increase of approximately 1,216 patients in orthodontic treatment when compared with the number of patients receiving treatment in December 2001. I expect that the number of patients receiving orthodontic treatment in the public orthodontic service will continue to increase as the measures that I have taken impact further on the service.