Medical card dental access
Deputy Guirke said almost no dentists in Meath are taking medical card patients and urged resolution of the long-running HSE dispute. The Taoiseach said negotiations were ongoing and a balance was needed between value for money and service provision.
I wish to raise an issue relating to dentists, which I also bought up with the Tánaiste in November. There are 107 dentists in Meath, as listed on the government website. To my knowledge, not one of them is accepting new clients with medical cards. There are 35 in Navan, five in Trim and two in Enfield. This is for a population of 210,000. It is a serious issue. The dispute between the HSE and the dentists has gone on for more than 13 months.
It needs to be resolved. Is there any sign of that? I receive calls every day from patients in distress because no dentist in the county is accepting medical cards.
Comment on this
The Deputy is correct in that there is ongoing negotiation between the Irish Dental Association, which represents dentists, and the HSE, representing the State and taxpayer in respect of services. A balance has to be struck between representing the taxpayer and value for money and the need to provide badly needed services for medical card holders.