BY AUSTIN LYNCH
People in Fermanagh who want to go to a dentist on the National Health Service have received a boost this week with the announcement of a £4.4 million injection into health service dentistry by Health Minister Michael McGimpsey.
This move aims to address the problems people have with gaining access to a Health Service dentist in certain parts of the province.
In a statement to the Assembly, the Health Minister said, "I strongly believe that people who want health service dentistry should be able to get it. That is far from the case in many parts of Northern Ireland today."
The measures announced by the Minister include an additional injection of a further £2 million recurrent, over and above that already announced in this financial year, into Practice Allowances.
In recognition of increasing costs of meeting cross-infection control standards, £1.5 million is being made available to help dentists with the costs of necessary new equipment and procedures thus improving patient safety in the surgery.
To help ensure an adequate supply of new, young dentists into Health Service dentistry in Northern Ireland, £500,000 is being made available to increase significantly the Vocational Training allowances for trainers willing to take on new graduates.
And, up to £400,000 is being allocated to Boards to address the problem of equity of access to Health Service dentistry, to enable them to grow the salaried dentists sector to plug gaps in health service provision.
The Minister explained that the additional funding for Practice Allowances would be directed towards those practices committed to providing Health Service dentistry to the full range of patients, including adults who pay for their treatment.
"I very much hope", he stated, " that the significant investments I have outlined will encourage dentists not only to come into and stay in the Health service, but to come back to it where they have opted for private practice".
The extra funding means that health service committed practices will now be getting, on average, an annual Practice Allowance of £29,600 - an increase of £8,100. However, the full practice allowance will only be payable to those dentists who are Health Service committed i.e. those practices providing a specified level of Health Service treatment, including care and treatment of fee paying patients.
Welcoming the news, Judy McGaffin, the Director of Dental Health with the Western Health and Social Services Board, said the Board 'really welcome' the money, especially the spread of the money over four different areas.
"The Practice Allowance is very welcome as it will encourage dentists to take on more Health Service patients.
"We also welcome the vocational training allowance. The Western Board always finds it difficult to recruit and train dentists. If we can get trainers in place, then we will be able to attract new graduates in the area."
Judy McGaffin also said this allocation of funding would mean the Board can respond to the business case to employ six salaried dentists.
While the Board would need to prioritise where these would be placed, Fermanagh would definitely be an area looked at closely.
Where the dentists will go will depend on how many applications they get.
But the Board did say they were looking at various options for premises for these dentists, and they would be employed by the Trust.
Tommy Gallagher, SDLP Fermanagh South Tyrone Assembly member, has welcomed the Health Minister's commitment to invest a £4.4million package to improve dental care.
Mr Gallagher tabled a motion about the lack of NHS dentistry treatment on the floor of the Northern Ireland Assembly before the Summer recess and, yesterday, he welcomed the Department of Health's reaction to that proposal with a considerable investment of new money to improve this situation.
"Today's money will go someway towards addressing the shortage of NHS dentists.
"It contains a £400,000 allocation to the Health Boards which is specifically for making NHS treatment more widely accessible" said Mr Gallagher.
"This is particularly important for people in the West, where accessing NHS dental treatment has become particularly difficult.
"I have asked the Minister for an assurance that money to employ salaried dentists would be made available immediately and that his own Department would not delay the processing of applications from the Health Boards.
