October 16, 2013
A public / private partnership model being trialled in Inglewood to slash dental waiting times may be introduced to Kingaroy and Murgon.
Darling Downs Hospital and Health Board Chair Mike Horan said the number of people in the Darling Downs waiting for more than two years for non-urgent dental care had dropped by one-third but there was more work to be done.
“Darling Downs Oral Health is working hard to reduce the waiting list further by recruiting staff to the Western Downs and South Burnett oral health units where the longest waiting lists are,” Mr Horan said.
“The health service has partnered with 21 private dentists across Toowoomba and the Darling Downs region to improve the waiting times.
“A public/private partnership has been underway in Inglewood since March; we are now looking at extending this innovative model to the Kingaroy, Murgon and Dalby regions.”
Mr Horan said there was huge demand for publicly funded oral health services with 54 per cent of the adult population in the Darling Downs Hospital and Health Service catchment eligible for public oral healthcare.
“All emergency dental work is treated with priority where the most urgent cases are treated first. The waiting list occurs in general and check-up services,” he said.
“We will continue to look for innovative ways to partner with private dentists throughout the region and continue the reduction of the waiting lists in our dental services.”
