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Public Oral Health Services

Services provided in NSW | Eligibility Criteria | Service Delivery | Oral Health Status

Services provided in NSW

The range of oral health services provided through the NSW public health system broadly includes dental services to children and adults according to criteria that target emergency situations, those in most need, screening services targeted at specific schools and education and promotional services.
 
Operationally in NSW these services are delivered by each of the Area Health Services.
 
These services are delivered in dental clinics based in schools, community health centres and hospitals within each Area. The services provided include general dentistry such as examinations, fillings, and dentures.
 
There are two teaching hospitals - the Westmead Centre for Oral Health and the Sydney Dental Hospital that also provide specialist services in their clinics and through outreach programs in rural public dental clinics.
The specialist services include paediatric dentistry, oral and maxillofacial surgery, endodontics, periodontics.
 
There are approximately 173 public sector clinics in NSW of which 85 are in the four rural Area Health Services and 88 clinics in the four metropolitan Area Health Services. In addition, services are provided at 26 clinics in Justice Health facilities and one clinic at the Children's Hospital Westmead.
 
In rural Area Health Services, clinics may be located in schools, community health facilities or mobile dental clinics. In some communities a private surgery may be rented to provide public sector oral health services. Adult services are provided through clinics often co-located with community health centres.
 
In the metropolitan areas, clinics are mainly located in community health centres, school based clinics or on hospital grounds.
 
Contracted services are provided via the Oral Health Fee for Service Scheme.
 
About 10 Aboriginal Medical Services provide dental services that are funded by NSW Health.
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Eligibility Criteria

As in all Australian jurisdictions, NSW public oral health services are provided only to a proportion of the community who meet the eligibility criteria, as outlined in the NSW Health Policy for Eligiblity of Persons for Public Oral Health Care:

"All persons who are normally resident in New South Wales and hold one of the Centrelink concession cards or Department of Veteran's Affair Pension Concession card listed below are eligible for free oral health care in NSW public oral health clinics (usually within their Area Health Service of residence). These concession cards include:

  • Health Care Cards
  • Pensioner Concession Cards
  • Commonwealth Seniors Health Cards.
  • In addition all preschool aged children and full time students less than 18 years of age are eligible for free public oral health care.
  • Free oral health care is provided to patients where they are in receipt of current concession card or are the dependant of a concession cardholder, or the oral health treatment is an emergency, or is part of the surgical management of the patient."

Altogether, about 57% of the NSW population is eligible for public oral health services. The NSW criteria of eligibility for public sector dental services are more generous than most other States and Territories.

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Service Delivery

Each year between 1.3 millioin and 1.4 million non admitted occasions of service are provided in public dental services in NSW.

These services include triage via call centres using the Priority Oral Health Program (POHP), school assessments, treatment appointments in public dental clinics and services provided via the NSW Oral Health Fee for Service Scheme (OHFFSS).

The majority of patients requiring care are appointed directly from the call centre and in some cases issues a voucher under the OHFFSS. Some patients are placed on assessment and treatment waitlists held in the Information System for Oral Health (ISOH) database at the relevant Area Health Service.

The waiting list for ambulatory care in NSW was approximately 149,718 in September 2008.

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Oral Health Status

The status of oral health for people in NSW is outlined in the Health of the People of NSW, Report of the NSW Chief Health Officer:
 
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