Health Minister Sussan Key will announce a push to reform the nation’s fragmented dental system. Photo: Andrew Meares
Federal Health Minister Sussan Ley is sinking her teeth into dental reform.
Ms Ley will announce on Sunday a new Abbott government push to reform the nation’s fragmented dental system in a bid to give Australians “seamless” access to the services they need.
The government has decided to add dental to its reform agenda for 2015/16, with Tuesday’s budget to contain more than $200 million in funding for state and territory services to “allow for reform work to be undertaken over the next 12 months”.
Ms Ley believes the government’s current federation white paper provides an opportunity for the Commonwealth to work with states, dentists and consumers to deliver “greater co-ordination and less duplication” in dental policy.
“Failing to look after our teeth not only risks devastating impacts on the health of our mouth – which is an essential part of everyday life – but our entire body,” Ms Ley said.
“It also places a significant burden on the health system across the board and we therefore need to ensure every dollar invested delivers the best health outcomes possible. However this can be difficult to maintain when services are spread across multiple delivery and funding models and the risk of inefficiencies and service gaps inevitably increases.”
Ms Ley says the government will offer the states and territories a new 12-month “National Partnership Agreement on Dental”, worth $155 million. That will be coupled with continued access to the Commonwealth child dental benefit scheme, increasing the total support package to more than $200 million.
The government will announce further details of the reform plan later in the year, Ms Ley said.