A WYNDHAM health provider says federal funding for dental care could help cut its waiting lists when a new clinic opens in 2014.
The government has announced a $4 billion scheme including Medicare-funded dental care for children, extra services for low-income adults and expanded services in outer-suburban and rural areas.
With construction of a new GP super clinic in Wyndham Vale under way, ISIS Primary Care chief executive Terry O’Brien said Wyndham was well-placed to benefit from the funding boost.
“The new clinic provides for eight dental chairs, but we currently don’t have any extra funds for dentists,” he said
“To get the potential to access funding that’s rolled out in 2014, which is about the same time we open our doors, is quite exciting.”
In Wyndham, the 22-month waiting list for dental work at ISIS Primary Care is longer than the state average of 17 months.
But under the scheme starting in 2014, families earning less than $112,000 a year will be given an entitlement of $1000 over two years for each child aged two to 17.
Hoppers Crossing dentist Michael Chin said allowing families to use Medicare cards would encourage visits to private clinics and ease the strain on public providers.
“Young people will be able to get regular check-ups and fillings when they need them, without needing to use the overloaded public system,” Dr Chin said.
“I’ve noticed families staggering fillings when they may not be able to afford having them, but this will allow them to have them all done at once.”
Prime Minister and Lalor MP Julia Gillard said the package meant 39,000 children would become eligible for government-subsidised dental care in her electorate, which takes in Wyndham, Melton and parts of Hobsons Bay. “It’s not acceptable that low-income households have more than double the number of family members with untreated tooth decay compared with high-income households,”she said.
