Health Advocates Call For An End To “Buckpassing” To Solve Waiting List Crisis
Health advocates in New South Wales have called for the state and federal governments to stop passing the buck in order to solve the waiting list crisis in the region.
The New South Wales Oral Health Alliance said that recent figures revealed that 23,835 people were waiting for treatment in South West Sydney, compared to just 4323 in the affluent North of the city.
Allison Peters, representative for the Alliance, said that there was a shortage of dentists in many areas in the South West of the city; in Blacktown the ratio is 10 dentists to 100,000 people compared to 155.4 dentists per 100,000 people on the affluent Upper North Shore.
Peters said that figures for the region reveal a huge gap in provision, with wealthier residents able to access dental services with much greater ease than those living in less affluent areas.
Ms Peters said that the amount you earn and where you live should have no bearing on whether or not you are able to see a dentist and called for the governments to address the situation as quickly as possible.
Chief of the Australian Dental Association, Matthew Fisher, said that it was evident that the dental workforce required “significant enhancement” to address waiting lists and urged the government to commit to a long-term oral health strategy.
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