Thousands wait for dental treatment
The HSE has said that it is looking at ways its can improve orthodontic services after it emerged this week that thousands of young people are waiting for treatment and assessment in Cork and Kerry.
2,170 children and teenagers are waiting on orthodontic treatment across Cork and Kerry with a further 1,496 waiting for an assessment, new figures released to Fianna Fáil have revealed.
It is not possible to get a breakdown of the figures for the assessment and treatment waiting times for each area in Cork and Kerry because of what the HSE said was an “IT issue”.
Fianna Fáil TD for Cork South Central Michael McGrath described the numbers as “appallingly high” adding that they were simply not acceptable.
He said: “Not only are thousands of children waiting for assessment and treatment appointments, many of them are waiting years to be seen. The waiting lists for treatment following assessment is particularly worrying, with more than half of all those on the list waiting more than one year for an appointment. There are 162 children and teenagers waiting more than three years.”
The orthodontic services in Cork Kerry Community Healthcare are provided by two consultant orthodontists. One consultant orthodontist covers South Lee and West Cork and the other covers North Lee and Kerry. There is also an agreement with UCC to provide orthodontic services for the North Cork area and this consultant orthodontist is based at Cork University Dental School and Hospital.
There are no vacant consultant orthodontic posts in Cork Kerry Community Healthcare at present with Deputy McGrath saying that more staff was needed to cope with the demand. He said that teenagers needing orthodontic treatment could be 17 or 18 by the time they reach the top of the waiting list.
“These treatment delays are not only impacting children waiting to get braces, but those who have completed their treatment are also having to wait to have their braces removed. This is bound to have knock-on effects on their outcomes,” he added.
A HSE spokesperson said: “Cork Kerry Community Healthcare is looking at a range of service improvements including the introduction of a centralised wait list for the orthodontic department. The introduction of this wait list will allow the community healthcare organisations’ funded resources be targeted at this wait list on a prioritised basis, to improve equity of access to orthodontic treatment. A new ICT system (Orthotrac) has now been introduced to support this initiative and a breakdown of the numbers of children and adolescent accessing orthodontic assessment.”