Wednesday, 9 March 2022

Dental services waiting lists

Dr CUMMING (Western Metropolitan) (18:02): (1803) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Health in the other place, and the action that I seek is for the minister to introduce measures to address the long waiting times for public dental care. Waiting times for public dental care in Victoria skyrocketed over the last nine months due to the impact of restrictions and lockdowns as well as chronic underfunding. Over 1.5 million adults are eligible to access public dental care in Victoria, but only 100 000 were able to receive care in the six months to December 2021. Now, according to the Australian Dental Association’s Victorian branch, 34 000 patients are forced to wait more than three years.

The situation in my region, Western Metropolitan Region, is dire. If you are waiting for general public dental care in Werribee, Hoppers Crossing, Altona, Hobsons Bay or St Albans, you have to wait for a minimum of 45.3 months—well, that is over 3½ years. The longest waiting time is 61 months—over five years. If you are after denture care, the figures are not much better, with a minimum wait of over two years and a nearly five-year maximum waiting time. Over 11 500 people are waiting for care. In Footscray and Niddrie the figures are only marginally better: general dental waiting times are between 43 and 54 months, and denture waiting times are between 5.9 and 18 months, with only 5999 on the waiting list! Sunbury is a little better, with general dental waiting times of between 24.7 and 27 months and denture waiting times of 10.7 to 60 months—in other words, two years or five years. But Melton is another horror story: general dental waiting times are between 35.2 months and 50 months, and denture care waiting times are between 25.8 and 29 months—in other words, four years or 2½ years.

These figures show that my constituents are waiting years—not just weeks or months but years—to see a dentist under the public system. These figures are well above the state average. 34 000 patients across the state are having to wait more than three years, the vast majority in my region—over 20 000 of them. This is not good enough. Long waiting times for dental care mean existing dental problems worsen.