Dentists pass vote of no confidence in Minister for Health

Members of the Irish Dental Association have passed a motion of no confidence in Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly as a survey by the organisation revealed long waiting times for specialist treatment, high levels of frustration over the public health contract and acute shortages of new recruits to the profession.

The survey of the association’s members found that more than half of patients are having to wait in excess of three months for specialist dental care and 40 per cent experience a three-month wait for a non-emergency appointment.

The association has long been seeking improvements to the terms of the contract dentists receive from health boards and 80 per cent of those who are currently part of the scheme say they are not in a position to take on new medical card patients.

More than half of practices sought to hire a new dentist during the past 12 months, meanwhile, but 60 per cent were unable to find a suitable candidate.

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The shortage, the association says, has contributed to a situation in which around 80 per cent of dentists who participated in the survey said they did not have the capacity to take on any new patients, including children.

‘Broken promises’

The results come as members attend the association’s annual conference in Kilkenny on Friday and Saturday, a week after the motion of no confidence in the Minister was passed at its AGM.

That, says newly elected association president Eamon Croke, “shows how broken their trust is in a system and service that has no capacity or seen any meaningful commitment to reform.

“Our membership is beyond frustrated at the endless broken promises and false dawns by the Minister and his department.”

He said the survey results highlighted “the ongoing issues facing the sector, which are acting as significant barriers to patients who require access to adequate and efficient oral healthcare”.

“The fact that an unprecedented 93 per cent of dentists say that they would not sign up to the medical card contract in its current form even with the promise of a new scheme is indicative of a model which is not fit for purpose and directly impacts on the most vulnerable in our society.

“We see this also in the Government’s plans to provide for new prevention-focused oral healthcare for children aged from birth to seven years through a model where they are only seen by a private dentist, moving away from public service screening. It’s notable from our survey that 83 per cent of members would not be in a position to sign up to such a scheme for under-7s due to practices already being understaffed and overstretched.

“Sadly, without the political willingness, patients – particularly children and those most vulnerable – will continue to shoulder the burden of a system crumbling under decades of inaction and neglect,” he said.