Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

89. To ask the Minister for Health his plans to address the issue of backlogs in dental treatment for primary school children and the need for urgent recruitment of dentists; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52376/22]

Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I raise a question about our public dental system, particularly as it relates to primary school students. The system has collapsed. The waiting times, in areas where they even exist, are too long. They are longer than the time children spend in primary school. What is the Minister’s plan to address this? We have spoken about dental treatment before and the difficulties and challenges in the dental service. I would like to hear the Minister’s answer.

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. The HSE public dental service provides care for children up to 16 years of age. It includes emergency care, a fissure sealant programme and care for orthodontics. There have, as the Deputy correctly said, been significant delays in the provision of these services. These were significant before Covid-19 arrived and, as with many other patient services, Covid has made them worse. It is not acceptable that children and their families are facing these long waiting periods for access to oral healthcare. It is a top priority for me and the Government to address it. Critically, we are backing that sentiment up with money, which is what matters. I have allocated an unprecedented €15 million in the budget for next year to enhance the provision of oral health services. A dedicated amount of nearly €5 million has been provided to develop a comprehensive oral healthcare package for children. This will make a huge difference. This is an intervention package for children from birth up to seven years of age and is aligned with the national oral health policy.

We will see the benefits of these packages in the years to come. On top of that, I have allocated €9 million specifically to address the waiting lists in orthodontics, which the Deputy has quite rightly called out, and to allow the public dental service to provide care to all eligible children. In addition to the €15 million allocation, resources will also be available to recruit more orthodontists. There has been a specific request for orthodontists to provide clinical leadership within the HSE to drive this oral health strategy, Smile agus Sláinte. These staff will allow for the very substantial reform that is required right across the system.

Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am curious about this because I was lucky enough to have been a beneficiary of it as a child. I got extensive dental treatment through the Eastern Health Board in my local health centre and then in St. James's Hospital right through until I was a little bit older than 16. I have seen the benefits it can have for those who need it, of whom there are many, when it works and is functioning. We have had this issue in a number of areas in health and beyond. We have money in the country and are providing it but where are we actually going to get these dentists? The Irish Dental Association has said we need 400 whole-time equivalent staff in our dental service to bring us to where we need to be. There is a role for the Minister, Deputy Harris, in resourcing third level and further education in UCD and Trinity College. What negotiations are taking place to ensure that we are able to develop dentists and orthodontists here but also to attract them from overseas?

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

While we need to keep going, what has been done this year? A number of community healthcare organisations, CHOs, have already run recruitment initiatives to fill the vacancies that exist. Vacancies equivalent to approximately 72 whole-time equivalent staff have been filled so far this year. That is very welcome progress. The HSE dental service recently held a recruitment event. It invited dentists who are registered or entitled to be registered with the Dental Council of Ireland. I am delighted to say that the event was well attended by dentists who were expressing an interest in these public service jobs, which is where we need them. So far this year, there has been a net increase of 72. We are going to continue to push on that. We have sanctioned more roles because, as the Deputy quite rightly says, we need to build up the workforce. The Irish Dental Association is correct that we need significant additional numbers in the public service provision.

Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The public service provision is absolutely what we are talking about here and what we need to resource. Another thing being brought up by the dentists I am speaking to is the lack of oral or dental hygienists and how there may be a role for the national apprenticeship office in developing some kind of apprenticeship scheme in this area. The Irish Dental Association or dentists will probably call for that. We have a crisis and we need to work our way out of it.

We have spoken previously about the dental treatment services scheme, DTSS, and all of the challenges associated with it. We need to get dentists back into schools, examining children at a young age and getting them into streams to ensure they have good oral care and that they get any structural dental issues sorted out in their early teens, when it is most important. If there is any cosmetic dentistry needed on top of that, that should also be provided. These are real needs in our dental services that we are not providing for at the moment. We need to get back to where we were and to then improve from that point.

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. I agree with all he has said. There are several layers to what we are doing. One is prevention. The programme we are now bringing in for children from birth up to seven years of age is really exciting. The second layer is building additional capacity in our public health service, which we have discussed, and the third is modernisation and reform. This is why we are introducing clinical leaders to the system, which we have had not had before, to help with regard to models of care for children and adults. One area in which we need to be open to quite radical action is that of college places and training places. The reality is that we do not educate remotely enough healthcare professionals in our country. We need to see at least a doubling of college places. That would cover both groups of workers the Deputy has described, dentists and dental hygienists. We need to be radical and ambitious in scaling up the number of college places and training places in the coming years.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Bogfaimid ar aghaidh go dtí an chéad cheist eile a bhfuil Teachta i láthair di, Uimh. 113. Tá sé cosúil leis an gcéad cheist a d'fhreagair an tAire, Uimh. 80.