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Room for improvement in dental treatment for children, says Opposition
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The Opposition says it has received representations from parents who consider that there is room for improvement in the procedure currently in place for their children to receive dental treatment.
There was one specific case of a child who has been waiting since 2007 to be given a check-up by a dentist on a routine, non-emergency basis.
The information provided to the Opposition in Parliament shows that there are presently two dedicated dentists to deal with about 7500 schoolchildren and university students. Moreover, there are currently 526 children on the GHA’s paedontic waiting list. The problem seems to be that because priority is always given to emergency cases, which is understandable, those children who are waiting to see a dentist on a non-emergency basis simply have to wait it out. The more emergency cases that come forward, the less time there is available for children to have a routine dental check-up on a non-emergency basis.
In one particular case, parents put a child down for an elective, routine appointment with a dentist at the Primary Care Centre in 2007, expecting to receive a telephone call or a card with an appointment date and time. This did not happen. Many months later, the parents made an enquiry as to when their child was going to be called to see a dentist. The parents were asked whether this was an emergency, in which case the child could be taken at 9.00am the following morning. Given that it was not an emergency, the parents informed the GHA accordingly, and were told that if the child was on the waiting list then they had to wait to be called up. The existing procedure is so unsatisfactory that the persons in question are now considering taking their child to a private dental clinic for a check-up even though the GHA service is free and the private service will have to be paid for.
Commenting on the matter, Shadow Minister for Health Neil Costa said: “I asked the Government at the last meeting of Parliament to tell me how many school children received free dental care with the GHA in non-emergency cases in each month of 2009 and 2010 but was told that this specific information was not available. The only records held related to the number of overall appointments given to school children and not whether these were for non-emergency cases.
"The problem is that there is a difference with the way in which the Government deals with dental check-ups, on the one hand, and eye tests, on the other. In the course of their early school life, children automatically receive an appointment card, through the school, for a free eye test with the GHA. This is carried out as a matter of course and obviously on a non-emergency basis when every child reaches a certain age.
"The dental service operates differently. Children who are referred by a practitioner or are self-referred for elective dental treatment are placed on a waiting list. In other words, the initiative for a dental check-up lies with the parents and not with the GHA. The result is a very long wait for the child to be seen if it is not an emergency. The existing mechanism is not working and the Government should take steps to correct it.”
26-10-10
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