Dental issues continue to heavily impact on the Granite Belt, with flow-on effects causing concern in Warwick.
There are no school dental vans on the Granite Belt and, to make matters worse, the Stanthorpe Hospital Dental Clinic is down 25 per cent on staff levels.
State Member for Southern Downs Lawrence Springborg said he had a significant number of constituents contact him recently concerned that the school dental van service had been permanently closed down in the area.
“Dental health is undoubtedly the area that I get the greatest amount of contact from the Stanthorpe/Warwick area of my Southern Downs electorate,” Mr Springborg said.
However, he had been assured by Health Minister Geoff Wilson, that dental vans had not been permanently removed from school sites across the Granite Belt area.
“A dental van was relocated from a Southern Downs school as a result of site access issues,” Mr Wilson said.
“The van relocation is a temporary solution until the school rectifies the concerns with van access. Upon site rectification the normal dental van visit cycle will resume,” he said.
In the meantime though, Mr Springborg said, this had added extra pressure to the already “significant waiting list” at both Stanthorpe and Warwick hospital dental clinics.
“People are waiting not just months, but years, and putting up with the pain and suffering that goes along with it,” he said.
The Stanthorpe Dental Clinic has only three staff at present.
“The staffing establishment at the Stanthorpe Hospital Dental Clinic has not changed in the past two years; however, the dentist at Stanthorpe has recently accepted a transfer to another health service district. A recruitment process is in progress to fill the vacant position,” Mr Wilson said.
“Emergency cases are being referred to Warwick or Toowoomba dental clinics,” he said.
Mr Springborg said we needed to train more dentists and provide them with appropriate conditions and support to try to attract and retain these professionals in the Southern Downs.
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Story: Rebecca Brown
