Consultation on consultant led hospital dental services

The review is a fundamental step to providing safe and effective hospital dental services for the future.

The Minister said: “I want a hospital dental service which is based on the needs of the population, and inspires public confidence. It needs to be delivered to a high standard, as close as possible to the patient.

“Some patients have highly complex oral health needs which require specialist skills. We need to ensure that these skills are available in Northern Ireland. This can only be achieved through explicit support for training, education and accreditation of services provided. This requires close co-operation between the educational establishments and service providers.”

This draft report assesses the current arrangements for the provision of seven specialist consultant led services:

· Restorative dentistry

· Paediatric dentistry

· Orthodontics

· Oral Medicine

· Oral Surgery

· Oral and Maxillofacial surgery

· Special Care Dentistry

The consultation report makes a series of recommendations and outlines service models for these specialist services to ensure that the needs of the population are met and that services are patient-centred, safe, cost-effective and sustainable.