HSE deal with trainees aims to tackle waiting lists

IT’S hoped a deal between the Health Executive Service (HSE) and trainee dentists could significantly cut the backlog in waiting times in Cork and Kerry for orthodontic treatment.

HSE spokesman Pat Healy said that he recognised that waiting lists in both counties were long.

The most recent figures from the HSE show that 72 people in Cork have been waiting more than four years for treatment, while the figure in Kerry is even higher, at 171.

At the beginning of 2002 the former Southern Health Board started to use the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF), and, so, far 246 patients were treated privately.

Mr Healy said the current waiting times could be reduced through by training more orthodontists.

Up until recently, there was only one orthodontist training centre in the country, Dublin’s post-graduate dental School.

However, the HSE (Southern region) is supporting the appointment of a Professor of Orthodontics at the University Dental School in Cork and has provided €1 million towards the establishment of a postgraduate course.

The first students are due to arrive this month.

“The programme will provide services for clients on the North Cork waiting list,” Mr Healy said.

Sponsored trainee orthodontists will commit to working in the public service for two or four years.