By CLAIRE THWAITES
LONG waits to see a dentist in Dandenong are set to continue despite the federal government last week announcing a $515 million blitz on public dental waiting lists.
Federal Health Minister Tanya Plibersek said almost $346 million would be directed to treating patients on waiting lists over the next three years. This would target more than 400,000 people currently on public dental waiting lists around the country.
The most recent statistics the Weekly was able to obtain for Southern Health’s Greater Dandenong Clinic showed the wait was 29 months as at April-June 2011.
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This is a four-chair clinic; some of the newer clinics such as the MonashLink clinic in Clayton have 10 chairs. The waiting list for general dental at MonashLink is eight months, significantly less than for Dandenong.
MonashLink Community Health Service chief executive officer Gregg Nicholls welcomed the funding announcement overall but said the benefit for eastern Victoria remained unknown. “We are keen to see what the actual allocations will be as it filters down and what that means for us,” he said.
Australian Dental Association Victorian branch president Matthew Hopcraft said although the funding was welcome, there were concerns about the government’s plans to scrap the Medicare Chronic Diseases Dental Scheme, which could result in an increase in people on the waiting list, not a decrease.
“To take out that billion dollar Medicare scheme and replace it with this funding is not enough. The devil will be in the detail as to how the federal money flows through to the states.”
The Weekly asked Southern Health what the funding could do for Dandenong, but was told only that Southern Health “supports the government’s contribution”.
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