On the back of the WA Liberals’ $19 million election pledge for better dental care across WA regions, Liberal Pilbara candidate Amanda Kailis has labelled the region’s current public dental services as “embarrassingly poor”.
The WA Liberals promised to fund five mobile dental units to provide services in the Goldfields, Mid-West, Pilbara and other remote and at-risk communities.
The policy also proposes that if public services are unavailable, a Liberal Government would enter partnerships with local private dental providers to provide these services.
“I frequently hear on the ground about the issues with treating tooth decay from parents and grandparents worried about their kids,” Ms Kailis said.
“It should never have been allowed to get to this point, but this announcement shows the WA Liberals’ commitment to regional people and ensuring all West Australians get the services they deserve, irrespective of where they live.”
Ms Kailis also expressed her concern over the Hedland Government Dental mobile clinic at Hedland Health Campus.
“The converted caravan currently being used in the carpark of the Hedland Health Campus is very clearly not fit-for-purpose, nor equipped to provide acceptable dental care for the community,” she said.
“Patients are forced to wait in 40C temperatures and staff lack toilet facilities or meeting rooms.
“Residents have made me aware that this situation has been raised numerous times with Kevin Michel without being acted on.
“Even worse, I understand that a notice is now up on the caravan advising that the clinic is closed due to staffing shortages.”
Hedland Dental Care principal dentist Dr Roger Higgins said the Liberal Party initiative was a great starting point that could be built on, but sustainable long-term solutions for dental care in the Pilbara should include incentives to attract and retain high-quality dentists.
“This includes not only financial incentives but providing suitable accommodation,” he said.
“The Pilbara is a challenging environment in which to live and work and without places to live, dentists will not want to move here.
“Permanent public dentists and staff are desperately needed to provide continuity of care for many people in the Pilbara.
“High quality public dental facilities in Port Hedland could service a range of communities.”
Pilbara MLA Kevin Michel said the Cook Labor Government provided “generous” incentives to dentists and dental hygienists in the Pilbara in the face of global workforce demand.
“If re-elected, we’ll also deliver the biggest ever expansion of the Patient Assisted Travel Scheme (PATS) program to include dental services,” he said.
“In contrast, Amanda Kailis and the Liberals have no experience and no plan to strengthen services.
“They claim they will use private capacity to increase the number of dentists — but concede that private capacity doesn’t exist in every town.
“Only WA Labor will do what’s right for the Pilbara and provide quality healthcare for locals.”
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