Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach. I thank Senator O'Loughlin for the opportunity to address the issue of dental services for medical card holders in south Kildare. I am taking this debate on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly.

Dental treatment for medical card holders aged 16 and over is provided under the dental treatment services scheme, DTSS. Services available annually have included an examination, two fillings and emergency extractions. More complex care and a broader range of treatments for patients with special needs and high-risk patients is also provided, some of which requires prior approval.

Both the Minister and the Government have been concerned for some time that medical card patients in some parts of the country have been experiencing problems in accessing dental services. In local health office 6, which covers Kildare and west Wicklow, the numbers of private dentists who held a contract with the HSE to provide services to medical card holders stood at 58 in December 2019. This fell to 41 in December 2021 and the current figure is 38 dentists.

To address this issue, the Minister secured an additional €10 million in budget 2022 to provide for expanded dental healthcare for medical card holders, including the reintroduction of scale and polish, and the expansion of the oral health examination to emphasise preventative measures in line with the Healthy Ireland policy approach.

To address the concerns of contractors about the scheme, the Minister is using an estimated €16 million of an underspend in this year’s Estimate allocation of €56 million to award fee increases across a number of items, including fillings. The combination of these two measures represents an estimated additional investment of €26 million in the scheme this year over and above what was spent on the scheme in 2021, which was €40 million. Following consultation with the Irish Dental Association, these new measures came into effect on 1 May. The Minister hopes that this significant additional investment in the scheme will attract more dentists to treat medical card patients, including in south Kildare. In the longer term, the retention of dentists within the scheme will be examined. The Minister has been assured by the HSE that their local services on the ground will assist any persons who are still experiencing problems in accessing a service.

The Minister is aware that contractors are looking for more substantive reform of the dental treatment services scheme in the longer term. This concern is recognised and it is the Minister’s intention that this is addressed in the context of the implementation of the national oral health policy, Smile agus Sláinte, which sets out a body of substantial reform of dental services. Work is under way within the Department of Health to design a governance framework to oversee and facilitate root and branch reform of the provision of dental services in Ireland, including the dental treatment services scheme. The chief dental officer in the Department is already engaging with stakeholders on this issue and I understand that she will meet representatives of the Irish Dental Association shortly.

It is very important also to recognise the point the Senator mentioned at the end of her contribution in respect of people with additional needs and the story of that lady having to ring 20 dentists in her area. While I would like to state she is alone and unique, she is not. Unfortunately, the number of calls which are coming into my office replicate exactly what the Senator is saying. The Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, is putting added investment into the sector but it does not seem to be replicated down to the delivery of service, which is a quite disappointing point.

Any of us who have had dental pain will equate it to labour, as there is nothing quite like it, to be honest. It is not right in this day and age that we should leave people to suffer. The funding is there and goodwill is being extended from the Department of Health and from the Minister. It is time now for the Irish Dental Association to engage and to reciprocate that.