12. DIANNE YATES (Labour) Link to this
to the Minister of Health
Has he received any reports of recent developments in child and adolescent oral health services?
Hon PETE HODGSON (Minister of Health) Link to this
I have received many, many reports. Child and adolescent oral health services are gearing up. They have already been reconfigured and upgraded in Southland, and district health boards in other areas have finalised, or are finalising, their business cases, with some district health boards—for example, Canterbury District Health Board—making their business cases public. Hawke’s Bay District Health Board has done the same, only on Monday this week. Various central investment decisions are likely to be made for new facilities, including mobile services, soon. There is more action in child and adolescent oral health now than there has been in this country in many decades.
Why is all this activity and investment needed; and does it mean that we are responding to a known need?
It is needed, because the National Government shut down dental therapy training in New Zealand in the 1990s, and it has taken until now to produce enough graduates to staff these new facilities that we are now building. And, yes, there is a known need amongst our children. The National Government’s neglect can be measured by our children’s oral health, which is declining. This is a serious situation, and an absolutely avoidable one; we must respond.
Barbara StewartWhat funds, if any, have so far actually been distributed from the $40 million set aside in last year’s Budget for children’s oral health services, given that it is now more than a year since the Budget announcement?