Dublin People - Health manager admits to shortage of public dentists

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Health manager admits to shortage of public dentists

Monday, 24 March 2008

Public dental services provided to children, the elderly and the disabled in the south east of Dublin city and county have been reduced by more than half because of a Health Services Executive (HSE) staff recruitment embargo, Southside People can reveal.
The local HSE health manager for the area described the “significant deficits” in staff and the reduction in dental services to vulnerable people because of the “constraints” within the executive.
The HSE in the Dublin South East area provides services to eligible persons, including children up to the age of 16, special needs patients and elderly patients in long stay hospital units.
The HSE local health manager for Dublin South East, David Walsh, told Southside People that the full complement of staff for the service normally amounted to 6.6 dentists with associated nursing and clerical support staff.
However, he admitted: “The current staff in post amounts to 2.5 dentists with significant deficits in both nursing and clerical supports.”
The HSE service provides checkups to children in their schools but Mr Walsh said it was “likely” that school screenings would be curtailed by up to 50 per cent this year.
“Unfortunately, it has not yet been possible to achieve the appropriate complement of staff for the service given the constraints generally within the HSE,” he said.

“Given the current gaps in the service the area will not be in a position to offer a full service and all services, including school screenings, will be subject to prioritisation with a view to concentrating available resources in the areas of most need.”
Dental services were subject to a national agreement last year whereby two new dental areas were created to allow services to mirror the local health office structure.
The Dublin South East dental service was one of these new services.
In addition, Mr Walsh said that a decision by the Government last year to extend the eligibility for the screenings to include private schools has also affected the service’s ability to meet demand.
“I am committed locally to prioritising this service so that it will be possible to achieve an adequate level of service and I will continue to work throughout the year towards that goal,” he added.
The population covered by the Dublin South East local health office is approximately 110,000 and the area stretches all the way from Leopardstown to Ringsend.
The hospitals in the area include Clonskeagh, Leopardstown Park, the Royal Hospital Donnybrook and Baggot Street Hospital. These are all long stay units for the elderly with elements of disability services in the Donnybrook Royal Hospital also.
Shocked
Dundrum based Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Councillor, Jim O’Leary (FG), said he was “shocked” by the HSE’s inability to provide a full-scale service in the area.
He said the current deficit in the service would cost taxpayers more money in the long run.
“There is an embargo in the HSE and as a result we cannot replace dentists in the Dundrum area,” he said. “Therefore people are losing out on a service, which is going to have a higher cost impact into the future because of the lack of children having a dental examination when they are in second class.
“By the time they reach third or fourth class they may need expensive procedures done. That is going to have to be spent out of the public purse and it is going to cost us more money in terms of dealing with the problems because we are not prepared to invest in preventative care.
“It is ridiculous,” he added. “We have a health service that has lost sight of the fact that it is all about provision of care. There is no point in having a health service if you don’t have the dentists.”

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