Dental services for medical card patients
Deputy Nolan says dental services for medical card patients and schoolchildren’s assessments have deteriorated. The Health Minister promises a dental plan and intervention programme, while noting that fees for medical card work have risen.
I wish to raise serious concerns again about the dental system and the total collapse of dental services for medical card patients and the lack of timely assessments for schoolgoing children. I and others have noted that this has really regressed. In the 1980s, as schoolchildren, we all had those timely assessments but we seem to be going backwards. It is getting no better. Even PRSI patients have had a number of benefits that they would have got in the past eliminated. There are a number of issues regarding dental care. I know the Irish Dental Association has been calling for some time for the contract to be renewed and for complete reform of the system. It is very frustrated with the HSE and the Department of Health. Will the Minister please intervene with the HSE and Department of Health to ensure that they can get a renewed contract in place as soon as possible?
Comment on this
I have already intervened with the HSE on two fronts. We will be producing a dental-specific plan. It is important to reference what the Deputy said about long waits, particularly for children. A specific intervention programme will last about two years. The Irish Dental Association has been involved with that. Let us not give the speaking points of private representative bodies either. I was at its conference and raised the increase in fees.
The fee paid to dentists for medical card patients has been increased by 40% and yet people still do not want to do it. I do have to acknowledge that as part of their conference dentists had two days, one on dentistry and one on aesthetics. I challenged the Irish Dental Association on that and it robustly defended the ability of dentists to do Botox and other things as part of their choice of how they practise. I have to highlight all these different things. Yes, we need to have a new contract anyway. Yes, we need to continue to make sure that we have a structured programme particularly for children. However, it is also true that there is not just dentistry happening and that is reducing capacity particularly in the public system.