CREATIVE SOLUTION TO COUNTRY DENTAL SHORTAGE

CREATIVE SOLUTION TO COUNTRY DENTAL SHORTAGE

The State Government needs to be more creative in making dental services available to country Victorians, according to The Nationals.

Eastern Victoria MP, Peter Hall, this week put forward a proposal based on the medical patient transport assistance scheme, whereby travel vouchers could be provided to people who needed to go to Melbourne for quicker treatment.

Mr Hall raised the matter in Parliament after a constituent who was facing a 12 week wait for dental treatment in the Latrobe Valley was able to access a Melbourne appointment in about two weeks.

“When I was talking to a constituent who phoned my office last week, she suggested that within a matter of weeks she could get an appointment if she travelled to Melbourne to consult a dentist. She checked it out and found that she could get an appointment within two weeks compared to almost a 12 week delay in Traralgon.

“It occurred to me that the government could be a bit more creative in resolving this problem for country people by offering a scheme similar to the patient transport assistance scheme, whereby country people are given some reimbursement if they are required to travel to Melbourne to attend a specialist’s clinic.”

Mr Hall said it would be a simple procedure for the Government to issue, for example, a public transport travel voucher to enable travel to Melbourne for people in dire need of dental work.

He called on the Health Minister to consider the idea and act on it quickly.

“There may be other ways to address this problem, but that is one suggestion I put forward to the government for consideration and comment.”

Mr Hall said the delay in dental services was chronic in many country areas.

He gave another example of a constituent who had rung 22 dental practices across the Gippsland region.

“I am not talking about public dental practices; I am talking about both public and private dental practices. She rang 22 and could not get an appointment until January of next year.”

Mr Hall had raised the issue earlier with the Health Minister, writing to him in September on behalf of a constituent who could not get an appointment until February next year.

“The government has said it is trying to do some things to address this problem, but there is no short term solution to getting more dentists to country Victoria,” Mr Hall said. “What I am suggesting could ease the problem and provide some sort of solution for country people.”