Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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584. To ask the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to correspondence which he received from an orthodontist (details supplied) on 5 September 2022 in relation to the children damaged in public orthodontic services and the sabotage of orthodontic services, public and private; is his attention has been drawn to the contents of the correspondence, including the fact that the Oireachtas Committee on Health expressed its total dissatisfaction with the delivery of orthodontic services in 2002 and 2005; the actions that his Department has taken and will take to resolve issues within the orthodontic services; and if he will publish an original report submitted to the HSE in February 2015. [44873/22]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Officials from my Department are aware of correspondence that was received from a concerned individual this month. I assume the report the Deputy is referring to is the Orthodontic Lookback Review commissioned by the HSE in 2015 following receipt of a ‘statement of concern’ in relation to an orthodontic service serving the Greater Dublin Area between 1999 and 2002. This review was, in effect, a scoping report commissioned to advise the HSE on what actions should be taken to determine if there was a risk of harm to patients in this case.

In response to the 2015 HSE Report, the HSE commenced an audit process in 2016 to review the records of patients treated with braces in the service between 1999 and 2002. The audit phase reviewed records of over 7,500 patients of which 16 patients met the threshold for recall by the HSE.

The HSE were successful in contacting the majority of these patients and Open Disclosure meetings took place over the period from January 2020 to August 2021. The patients were offered a dental assessment as per the terms of reference and as appropriate, treatment plans were initiated in accordance with clinical need and the informed wishes of the patients. The HSE published the Report of Look-back Review into Orthodontic Services (Dublin Mid-Leinster, 1999-2002) in August 2022.

Waiting lists vary regionally and according to the complexity of the condition. There are generally longer waiting lists for the least complex care. The HSE has put in place a number of measures to address waiting times in orthodontic services. These include treatment waiting list initiatives, services improvement initiatives and access to orthodontic services outside the jurisdiction. A HSE orthodontic treatment waiting list initiative in 2022 will see Children and Young People assessed as Grade 4 who have been waiting over 4 years for treatment at a cost of €4.1m. So far in 2022, 884 patients have been seen under the framework.

Any decision regarding publication of the HSE 2015 lookback report is a matter for the HSE.