Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I am glad there is a Minister of State from Cork in the Chamber because I would like to hear a response to the point I wish to make. Medical cardholders are finding it increasingly difficult to access the dental care to which the card entitles them. I know that is the case in Cork and suspect it is the case across the country. Some are being forced to wait a long time for appointments. Others are being told their dentist has left the DTSS and they can now be seen only as private patients. Most dentists who are still in the scheme are not taking any new patients. New medical cardholders are effectively being locked out.

In order to accept medical card patients directly under the DTSS, the participating dentist must have a DTSS panel number. At present, this is available only to an individual and is not available to an organisation. For this reason, the Cork University Dental School and Hospital cannot operate the scheme and accept medical cardholders directly for treatment. In order to provide treatment to a medical cardholder free of charge, the medical cardholder has to be referred to that hospital by the principal dental surgeon in the area. That is required under the service level agreement the hospital signed with the HSE and is primarily for patients who need specialist care, such as oral surgery and orthodontics. In contrast, the hospital is allowed to directly accept fee-paying patients. I believe that medical cardholders need to be able to attend that dental hospital in the same way as they would attend any dentist. The dental hospital should be allowed to operate the DTSS and be remunerated under it. This would very much have to include patients with toothaches and who need urgent primary care. If the Minister needs to intervene to arrange this, he should. I would like the Minister of State present to comment on this proposal. We cannot continue to allow a situation whereby medical cardholders are effectively locked out of the system and fail to receive dental care because they cannot afford to pay for it. This is Ireland in 2024. The Minister of State needs to comment.

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