Mr. Fergal Goodman:

I will not take long as my colleague, Dr. Kavanagh, will do most of the talking on the policy. I will just make a few opening introductory comments.

The national oral health policy was approved by the Government in March 2019, so it is now Government policy. The chief dental officer, Dr. Kavanagh, led the development of the policy over a period and will set out for members the ethos, principal features, key plans and actions in it. The policy is quite wide-ranging and takes an intersectoral approach as well as being consistent with the primary care philosophy of prevention, treatment at the lowest level of complexity and recourse to specialist care where this is clinically appropriate. This work is the culmination of a comprehensive programme of research, analysis and consultation over a number of years and, over time, we will update models of care and service delivery that have been with us for 25 years or more.

The policy is not only aligned with international models of good practice but with the ideals and approach in other healthcare policy areas, such as Sláintecare and Healthy Ireland. It is important to say that it does not seek to change all aspects of service delivery overnight, but it puts in place the framework for real and substantive change on a phased basis. As with any area of public service provision, implementation will need to be planned and managed in consultation with all interested parties, particularly the dental profession, as well as all those who use and depend on the services.

It might benefit the committee to know that in the development of the policy and the planning for implementation, the Department and the Minister are fully appreciative of the professional contribution made by the dental profession; namely, those in the salaried services of the HSE, contracted providers in private practice and those in specialist services.

I will now hand over to Dr. Kavanagh.