From this week’s Galway City Tribune – There is not a single dentist in Galway who will take patients with medical cards, it was claimed this week.

The Health Service Executive (HSE) had a list of 40 dentists in Galway City and County who had a contract under the Dental Treatment Services Scheme (DTSS) where a patient with a medical card can get free treatment, which is then reimbursed by the State.

But when a constituent of Sinn Féin TD, Mairéad Farrell, rang every dentist on the list last month, they could not get even one appointment for treatment.

She got a staffer to do the same thing last year and found just three out of the 40 willing to accept a patient.

“But the three of them said not to advertise that fact. They actually were inundated with patients and did want to see any patient under the DTSS,” she told the Galway City Tribune.

“I had another constituent who had a dentist she could see on a medical card but she had a really, really bad tooth and had to go to a specialist. She’s been told there’s a two-year waiting list for a specialist. That’s shocking.”

HSE West told the Galway City Tribune it now had a list of 22 dentists contracted to the HSE to provide services to medical card patients. There were 11 in the city, nine in Galway East and two in Galway West.

“It is regrettable that some dentists left the Scheme that provide care for medical card patients, this has led to difficulties for medical card patients in accessing dental care,” a spokesperson said.
This is a shortened preview version of this story. To read the rest of the article, see the April 21 edition of the Galway City Tribune. You can support our journalism and buy a digital edition HERE.