Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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823. To ask the Minister for Health if he will report on his and his Departments discussions with an association (details supplied) in respect of the provision of appropriate dental services for medical card holders; the date he will next meet with the association; the way he will address the urgent crisis in counties Louth and Meath in which over two thirds of registered dentists have left the general medical service scheme since 2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9808/22]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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My immediate priority is to seek to address the current situation of medical card patients experiencing problems in accessing treatment.

In that respect, officials from my Department and from the HSE have held two rounds of discussions with the IDA, the most recent on 17 December last when my Department and the HSE presented proposals to invest additional resources in the Dental Treatment Services Scheme, including €10m provided in the Budget, on top of the 2022 Estimate allocation of €56 million.

The Department / HSE has offered increased fees across a number of items and proposed the reintroduction of the Scale and Polish item.

These proposals were expedited to address not only the problem of access for patients, but also concerns expressed by dentists about the viability of the DTSS, and to some extent, to bring about alignment with the Dental Treatment Benefits Scheme, which is widely operated by dentists for PRSI patients.

The Department wishes to move the process on, in the interests of patients, and is hoping to meet the IDA again in the next couple of weeks to progress matters.

In the meantime, I have been assured that the HSE Public Dental Service is seeking to provide emergency cover for any medical card patients who are experiencing problems in accessing a service from their local dentist.