Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 20 January 2026
975. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health if her Department has conducted or commissioned a workforce planning review of the public dental service in the past five years; if so, to provide details of the findings relevant to recruitment and retention of dentists within the HSE; and to outline the policy measures currently in place or under consideration to improve recruitment and retention in the public dental service. [3992/26]
View answerMy Department has not conducted a workforce review of the public dental service in the last five years. The HSE have advised that work is underway using a population dentist-to-patient staffing model and the National Oral Health Office are engaging with Heads of Service for Primary Care. The initial steps to reorient the salaried service as set out in the Policy include mapping what is currently being provided across the dental areas and developing a training needs assessment for staff.
However, it should be noted that work has progressed on a workforce skill assessment census framework for the entire oral healthcare sector.
The workforce census is intended to gather information, including the proportion of registered oral healthcare professionals practicing in their registered profession, where they are located, the length of time on the dental register, and how recently they have joined, in order to obtain more granular information regarding the retention of dentists in both the HSE and private practice.
Ultimately, the information collected from the workforce census will enable the collation of important data to better inform workforce planning for the oral healthcare sector by providing vital insights into the sector's workforce and by identifying the skills that oral healthcare professionals need to provide the new model of service as set out in the National Oral Health Policy.
In terms of recruitment in the public dental service, it is heartening to note that €4m is being invested to support the addition of 15 HSE dental staff across dentists and dental nurses to deliver oral healthcare in the community. Further, I understand the HSE has sanctioned filling 34.7 existing WTE vacancies in the Oral Healthcare Service.
My Department will continue to work with the HSE to ensure these additional staff are placed to the areas of greatest need nationally.
