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News
PRSI dental scheme is now affordable
Health Minister Leo Varadkar has raised hopes that the PRSI dental scheme could be resurrected in the term of the next government. Speaking at the MacGill Summer School
in Glenties, Co Donegal recently, Varadkar (right) said that due to rising employment and rising wages, free primary care to all adults to cover dental fees, GP visits and prescriptions was now affordable. The minister’s comments could be an
indication that the government is preparing to back down on plans for universal health insurance only a few weeks after revealing that it was looking at alternatives to the plans put in place by his predecessor James Reilly. Cork dentist Barry Crowley said he
would welcome some reinstatement of the PRSI scheme. He said: “I think if the government are to reintroduce reimbursement of fees on PRSI it should
be like claiming back on insurance. “The patient can get their receipts and
send them to department of social welfare to get their percentage of fees reimbursed. I don’t think the onus should be on the dentist to do the paperwork for the patient. “We already do it for medical patients
with the HSE and it leads to endless paperwork.”
County Tyrone dentist struck off
ERASURE
A Strabane dentist has been struck off by the General Dental Council (GDC) after being found guilty of practising without professional indemnity cover, providing inad- equate treatment and making inappropriate claims for treatment. Donal Joseph McEnhill of Eden
Terrace in Strabane, Co Tyrone, was found to have been practising without indemnity from December 2006 until April 20ı4 when repre- sentatives from the Health and Social Care Board attended his prac- tice and advised him to stop treating patients immediately. During this visit, McEnhill told the representa- tives that he was not indemnified and did not intend to renew his cover as he was retiring in eight days time. He was also found guilty of several clinical failings including failing to
make any, or any adequate, record of medical histories or medical history updates for eight patients as well as failing to take radiographs when clinically indicated for the same cohort of patients. Other failings included inappropriately prescribed antibiotics, failure to diagnose caries, and making inappropriate claims for treatment. The PCC’s determination read:
“His repeated acts of dishonesty, and the substantial periods over which he practised without having appropriate professional indemnity cover, are so serious and damaging to the reputation of the profession that the only sufficient and propor- tionate sanction in this case is that of erasure. “The totality of the misconduct
was so serious that it is fundamen- tally incompatible with continued registration.”
A spokesman for the Department of
Social Protection said: “The services provided under the Treatment Benefit Scheme have been routinely reviewed in recent years and will be again in advance of the next budget. Consideration of the re-instatement of any particular services will have to be taken in light of available resources and competing priorities within the Department’s overall budget.” A recent IDA survey found that a
complete renegotiation of the Dental Treatment Services Scheme was favoured by 80 per cent of respondents, while 74 per cent want a renegotiation of the PRSI dental scheme. Dentists were also asked which treatments they would like to see restored to the PRSI scheme and in what order of preference. The list (in descending order) was: fillings, scale and polish, extractions and periodontal treatment.
New facility for
Navan Road dentists The third primary care and dental centre in the government’s €80 million infrastruc- ture investment has been opened by Health Minister Leo Varadkar. The minister cut the ribbon on the €8m Centric
Health Navan Road Medical and Dental Practice and the HSE’s Navan Road Primary Care Centre, which will house a wide range of health services including dentists Dr Irene Lavin and Dr Ciaran O’Driscoll from the Navan Road dental practice. The four-storey facility will also house three
GP practices, two HSE primary care teams and two HSE community mental health teams. Speaking at the official opening Minister for
Health, Leo Varadkar, said: “The Navan Road primary care centre is a fantastic facility for local residents. A third centre in Dublin West is now under construction in Corduff and will open next year. These new primary care centres join over 40 locations already across the country opened since 20ıı, with another 30 underway. Of these ı4 will be delivered by PPP and will receive funding from the European Investment Bank, the first time the Bank has invested in health care infrastructure in Ireland.”
Ireland’s Dental magazine 7
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