Patient views in Northern Ireland p14|Periodontal surgery p20|


IDA criticises “cynical” budget


Finance.Association chief accuses government of actively undermining dental care provision


The Irish Dental Association (IDA) has called the government’s decision to leave spending on the medical card scheme at 2008 levels as “cynical” and “inexcusable”. The association has criticised


the Finance Minister’s budget decision by pointing out that by the end of 2011 there are expect- ed to be 350,000 more people holding medical cards, bringing the grand total up to 1.6 million. Fintan Hourihan, chief


executive of the IDA, accused the government of moving from a position where it offered minimal support to dentistry, to one where


it was now actively undermining the provision of care to those who could least afford it. He said: “The Medical Card scheme wasn’t perfect but it provided a basic dental care framework for the poorer members of society. Now we have the frankly disgraceful situation where what is a limited emergency treatment service is now being stretched beyond breaking point. 2008 funding cannot provide any semblance of a dental service for 1.6 million medical card holders next year, with the result that hundreds of thousands of people will be


“The Medical Card scheme wasn’t perfect but it provided a basic dental care framework for the poorer members of society ”


Edward Lynch, who until recently was professor of restorative dentistry and gerodontology at Queen’s University Belfast, has been honoured with accredited membership of the prestigious American Society for Dental Aesthetics (ASDA). The Dublin Dental School graduate, who joined Warwick Medical School in April last year as head of dentistry, was asked to give the keynote address at the recent annual ASDA congress in San Antonio, Texas, to mark his membership.


Fewer than 200 educators, innovators and practitioners worldwide have received this distinguished accredited membership since ASDA was established in 1976, when it became the first aesthetic dental association in the world. Throughout his career Edward has been awarded research grants totalling in the region of £5 million. Reacting to the news of his membership, he said:


Above: Dr Irwin Smigel (ASDA founder) with Professor Edward Lynch, Prof George Freedman and Dr Dan Ward


“I’m delighted to receive the honour of this prestigious accreditation and hope that it allows us to continue to raise awareness about the excellent and innovative dental education and research we provide in Warwick Dentistry at Warwick Medical School.”


denied routine treatments. “We find it particularly


inexplicable that the government has decided to reduce in real terms the level of spending on dental care for medical card holders. Recently the ombuds- man’s report on care for nursing home residents also addressed the decision by the government in the last budget to limit for the first time the level of funding for dental care to be provided for medical card holders.” The IDA has also criticised the


restriction of the PRSI dental benefit to a check up only when people are now being asked to pay up to 7 per cent of income towards the new universal social charge. “Dental benefits were the most tangible benefits of the PRSI scheme. The downgrading of this scheme is totally unacceptable,” Hourihan continued.


Former QUB professor is honoured


News


Thousands apply for HSE redundancy


The Health Services Executive (HSE) received over 3,000 applications for voluntary redun- dancy and early retirement by the November deadline. The executive also revealed that it had received over 9,500 expressions of interest in the schemes, which were introduced by Health Minister Mary Harney in November 2009 to cut costs in the public health sector.


The government


made €400 million available to fund the up-front costs for the two


schemes, which were open to both management and administrative grades as well as support staff. About 70 per cent of applicants, who had to retire or resign on 30


December to avail of the scheme, came from


management and admin staff. HSE national


director of Human Resources, Sean McGrath, thanked all staff who


expressed an inter- est in participating in the scheme and paid tribute to the pensions, payroll and HR shared services teams throughout the country for their hard work in processing the “extraordinary work-load”.


Ireland’s Dental magazine 7


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