Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)

I am taking the Adjournment matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney. I am happy to have the opportunity to address the issue raised by Deputy Clune. As the House will be aware, the Health Service Executive has the responsibility to manage and deliver, or arrange to be delivered on its behalf, health and personal social services. This includes the delivery of dental and oral health services. The services in question in the Cork University Dental School were provided under an arrangement with the HSE.

At the outset, I would like to explain the current position. In January 2007 a decision was taken by Cork University Dental School not to accept any further referrals to its existing waiting list for adult special needs patients who required treatment under general anaesthetic. This decision was taken after considering a number of factors, including the length of time for patients on the current waiting list and the capacity of the current services at Cork University Dental School.

In addition to these factors, there were also concerns regarding the appropriateness of the facilities in regard to the treatment of both adult and child patients in a shared treatment environment and the lack of a consultant specialist for adults within the dental school. After considering all of these factors, a decision was taken to cease services and no new referrals were added to the list from January 2007. I would like to point out that patients who were already on the waiting list continue to be treated and will receive all of the dental treatment involving general anaesthetic that has been prescribed for them. Also, this decision by the Cork University Dental School does not affect patients requiring emergency treatment.

The HSE is committed to ensuring there will be a minimal break in service to these patients and accordingly they are actively seeking theatre capacity in Cork University Hospital where they can continue to provide this service. Patients who have been unable to access services at the Cork University Dental School will be contacted by the HSE in due course regarding treatment when the new arrangements are in place.

I would like to inform the House of the recent policy developments in this area. Last October, the Minister for Health and Children announced her plans to develop a new national oral health policy. This new oral health policy, the first in 13 years, will be undertaken by the Department of Health and Children in conjunction with the HSE. The development of this new national policy will allow a critical examination of the many challenges and issues currently facing the dental sector in Ireland. Among the issues which will be examined will be service delivery issues such as the availability of dental and oral health care services for people with disabilities.

In this regard, officials in the Department of Health and Children have met with a number of groups who work in the area of special needs dentistry to ascertain their views on recommendations for improving oral health services to people with disabilities. These groups include the Irish Society for Disability and Oral Health and a group of principal dental surgeons in the HSE with responsibility for special needs dentistry.

In addition to meeting these groups, the Department of Health and Children has sought the views of various organisations who work with people with disabilities in the context of their recent consultation on the national oral health policy. These organisations include the National Disability Authority, which is the lead State agency on disability issues. In addition, views were also sought from People with Disabilities in Ireland, the Disability Federation of Ireland and the Carers Association. As a result of these meetings and consultations, the Department of Health and Children intends to bring forward a series of recommendations to improve the position of dental and oral health services to people with disabilities in its forthcoming national oral health policy report. This report will be available later this year.

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