Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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5. To ask the Minister for Health when additional resources will be provided for dental services in Cavan and Monaghan, to reduce waiting lists and ensure that dental services are provided in a timely manner, particularly for children; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39390/24]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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Unfortunately, we come across daily unacceptable delays in children getting dental treatment. Children should be screened in second, fourth and sixth classes. In Cavan at present, the children who are in the programme for sixth class have gone to second level before they actually see a dentist. It is a shortage of personnel. The local personnel are working extremely hard but they do not have the resources to give the service that children in Cavan-Monaghan need.

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy and acknowledge his ongoing advocacy in terms of dental services, particularly the children's services and the school-based programme. There have been challenges and children have been waiting too long. A good deal of the delay came about through Covid and the HSE is still in the process of catch-up. The Government invests over €200 million into oral healthcare services annually. To the points the Deputy has made around the waiting list, an additional €17 million in one-off funding has been invested in the lifetime of this Government.

I fully acknowledge that we need to do more. In the budget we announced this week, I have allocated €4 million in full-year funding, including €2 million next year, to continue the implementation of the national oral health policy. This investment is going to provide an additional 15 dental staff across dentists and dental nurses to deliver the oral healthcare in our community and support children to access the current primary school programme of routine check-ups. The investment will also initiate delivery of a three-year implementation plan for the policy. Reform of our services is really important to ensure people of all ages get access to the care they need.

The Deputy has previously raised orthodontics and the need for more support there. I am happy to say the investments we have been putting in over recent years are now yielding results. Last year we transferred more than 2,000 children nationally to private care, so they got care quicker. From the Deputy's own constituency of Cavan-Monaghan, 128 children were transferred to this care. The number who are waiting the longest to start treatment has declined nationally and continues to decline. The HSE and our oral health professionals will use that €4 million now to continue to push on, making sure these children get access to the interventions, check-ups and treatment they need in a timely manner.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister and acknowledge the substantial increase in resources he has got for his Department for the forthcoming year. I congratulate him on his work in the Department together with his Ministers of State. One area we need to address, which I acknowledge I did not specify in my question, is patients with disabilities and complex and additional needs. I am thinking particularly of children with additional and complex needs. Oftentimes, a multidisciplinary team is needed with all relevant medical professionals for the safe delivery of dental care for such children. At times it necessitates admission to a day ward or paediatric ward in hospital and those children at times will get comprehensive dental care under general anaesthetic. We need to prioritise the delivery of services for such children. In my own area, we need a principal dental surgeon with a special needs role in particular.

I understand that the suppression of some posts over the past 12 to 14 months has impacted on the dental services. If there is a relaxation in regard to the creation of new posts, I would like to see the area of dental care prioritised if at all possible.

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy. Rest assured there have never been as many staff. We are hearing claims about suppression of posts. The reality is that there are nearly 30,000 more healthcare workers in the HSE now than there were when this Government came in. This week through the budget we have funded another 3,500 new posts. At the end of this year there are about 2,500 funded posts vacant. Not only have we had a record level of healthcare workers in the country, but between now and the end of next year there is another 6,500 vacant posts that are fully funded. However, I fully accept that there are individual teams and services that really are under pressure. The good news is that there are funded vacant posts in the Deputy's area and the HSE is looking to fill them. They include two specialist orthodontic vacancies in the Dundalk clinic, as well as one consultant orthodontic vacancy. The money is there, the posts are there and recruitment is ongoing. I will ask the HSE to redouble its efforts to fill those posts as a matter of urgency.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I appreciate that. I know of the Minister's concern for children with complex and additional needs. I will read a communication that I saw from a parent of a child who got dental treatment.

The parent wrote:

I feel saddened that those with special needs and who may be non-verbal can often suffer in silence, distress and anxiety due to pain, sadly [my son] suffered for a while before we realised what was wrong. In an ideal world it would be great if those with special needs had scheduled check-ups so that extreme pain that [my son] experienced could be avoided. It really worries me that those needing special care may be overlooked.

I know of the Minister's concern for children and adults with additional needs. Will he ensure the Department and the HSE pay attention to the needs of people with additional needs such that they will get the regular dental screening and routine check-ups they need?

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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There is no question but that should not be happening, and I will talk to the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, about it in the context of disability services. There is a clear overlap between my world of health and oral health policy, and that Minister's brief of disability services. I fully agree with the Deputy. All children should be able to get the services, but particularly those who have additional needs and may not be able to articulate those needs as well as some other children.

We are more than capable of this. During the lifetime of this Government, the general orthodontic waiting list for children has fallen by nearly half. There has been a 44% reduction in the number of children waiting on orthodontic care. We will not hear much about that - it will not be reported - but it is nearly a 50% reduction in the orthodontic list. Let us bring exactly the same determination to the children the Deputy is quite rightly talking about.