Wait times for public dental care at Barwon Health have improved but the Australian Dental Association Victorian Branch (ADAVB) warns waiting lists will balloon again unless significant issues with the public dental workforce are addressed.
With the aid of targeted funding from the state government, Barwon Health has reduced waiting times for general dental care from a peak of 29.7 months in 2018-19 to one month in December 2022.
It is a dramatic reduction compared to Victoria overall, which saw the state-wide peak of 26.7 months in 2021-22 dropping to its current figure of 16.5 months.
Across the state, only Peninsula Health showed a bigger reduction, down from its 2019-20 peak of 30.9 months to 1.3 months, while only East Wimmera Health Service has a lower current wait time of 0.4 months, down from its 2020-21 peak of 18.5.
Barwon Health oral health services director, Associate Professor Michael Smith, thanked the government for the targeted funding and praised the efforts of both his staff and the private practices that had come on board with the state’s dental health initiative.
“Barwon Health was pleased that the Victorian government provided additional funding for wait list management in 2021-22,” he said.
“Our dental team at Barwon Health have faced a number of challenges throughout the pandemic as some services were paused. They are to be commended for their efforts to achieve these recent positive outcomes.
“Private dental practices have been accepting vouchers to treat many of the patients being offered dental care and their participation in the Victorian General Dental and Victorian Denture Schemes has been a positive initiative for patients.”
However, the ADAVB has raised concerns over the sector’s capacity to maintain such waiting times given the “chronic underfunding of public dentistry”.
ADAVB president, Associate Professor Warren Shnider, said a long-term approach was required to prevent waiting times blowing out in the future.
“History tells us that these one-off injections of cash only offer short term relief, and without a more sustainable approach, we know that waiting times will rapidly increase,” he said.
“We have raised concerns during stalled enterprise bargaining negotiations last year about issues relating to recruitment and retention of dentists.
“It is vital that the Victorian government addresses these workforce issues as a matter of urgency to ensure that we have a strong public dental sector so that vulnerable Victorians can access necessary care.”
