Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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1107. To ask the Minister for Health what action is being taken to address the extremely long waiting times for orthodontic treatment; if he would accept that these long waiting times place an enormous burden on the patients affected; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44347/24]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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There are challenges in the provision of oral healthcare services, including orthodontics, and patients are waiting longer than they should have to, to access care. Therefore, in addition to the over €200m that the Government invests in public oral healthcare services annually, an additional €17m in one-off funding has been invested since 2019/2020 to address orthodontics treatment waiting lists. This funding has supported a reduction in the total number waiting to commence orthodontic treatment, by 43% between end-March 2019 and end-June 2024.

However, I acknowledge that we need to do more. From 2025, €8.4 million is being provided on an ongoing basis to continue initiatives aimed at addressing primary care waiting lists for children. This ongoing funding will provide an opportunity to drive innovative solutions built on the learnings from previous successful Waiting List Action Plan initiatives to address the increasing level of demand for primary care services.

Once the allocation of this funding across primary care is finalised for 2025, the proportion assigned to orthodontics will be applied across the various available orthodontics waiting list initiatives in a manner that best addresses the current waiting lists, in terms of both specific clinical need and geographic spread.

Implementation of the National Oral Health Policy is proceeding and a plan for the first phase of implementation is being finalised between my Department and the HSE. The plan will set out a phased approach to the reform of public oral healthcare services, including orthodontics, along with the associated strategic workforce planning elements.