In February this year, Matt
Lee, (Project Officer - Mobile Dental Clinic, ACT Health, Dental Health Program)
reported their dental health services are primarily for children and people
with some type of concession and it is delivered by ACT Health. Matt mentioned
that there are several dental clinics in the ACT which are located at Phillip Community
Health Centre, Belconnen Community Health Centre, City Community Health Centre
and Gungahlin Community Health Centre. When people have a dental emergency, they
may have the appointment wherever they can see a dentist and the hospital takes
emergencies during after-hours.
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| ACT MOBILE DENTAL CLINIC Image Credit : ACT Health |
The
mobile dental clinic was a commitment from the 2012 ACT Election and the government
will invest $1.6 million over four years to establish and run the service.
Funding for this project was given in August 2013. The mobile dental clinic was
created to initially serve residential aged care facilities, special schools
and to the young parents at the Canberra College Cares program. However, at the
moment aged care facilities are their priority area.
Matt
mentioned that one of the most challenging parts of this project was the
procurement process and to prepare a detail submission on the requirements of
the mobile clinic as there is not a lot of research in this area. A company in
Queensland was selected to build the mobile dental clinic.
The
mobile dental clinic was specifically designed for the ageing population
including wheel chair accessible, water heaters and air conditioners. The main goal
was to make the clinic functional for patients. They also have a reception and
a sterilising area. A lot of electricity is required to run the clinic
effectively therefore they installed generators and solar powers to ensure the
track is environmentally friendly and uses energy from a responsible source.
There were also a lot of inspections to ensure the clinic was operational and
able to provide high quality dental services.
Matt
also said that when they were in the designing stage they worked closely with a
Local Health District in NSW as they started using a mobile dental clinic
approximately two years ago. This was a very valuable process as the mobile
dental clinic in the ACT was able to incorporate in the design the aspects that
worked well for NSW and to avoid making the mistakes that they made in their
design.
They
started to trial this service at Salvation Army Mountain View Aged Care Plus
Centre and they were there for about three weeks attending patients. At the
moment they are determining how to deliver the service. Initially they wanted
to see everyone within 12 months and go back for a check-up. Unfortunately this
is not realistic so now they have implemented a triage process. They are still
planning whether to stay at a residential aged care facility until they see
everybody but this means that they would take a very long time to visit all the
aged care facilities in the ACT.
There
is little research about aged care and dental services and most of the research
available is anecdotal. It can also be challenging to treat patients with
severe dementia who cannot handle dental treatments.
Matt
also commented that they have two dentists and two nurses and they rotate
during the week and they also train junior dentists. They see all the people
living at residential aged care facilities including self-funding retirees.
However, they do not provide services for the residents of independent living
units. Before going to a residential
aged care facility they send an information package to all the residents which
include a letter explaining the process, preconsent forms for treatment and
for dental screening and responsibility forms for those who have guardians.
Matt
mentioned that they have received positive feedback from patients and there has
not being many issues with the vibration of the track. They are in the process
of setting up an evaluation system. At the moment they are able to report on
how many patients they have seen and what treatments were provided. Fees may
change later and this is something that is being reviewed.
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| Treatment in the ACT Mobile Dental Van :Image Credit: ACT Health |
They
have contacted all the residential aged care facilities in the ACT and the
majority of them have confirmed that they need dental services. It is expected
to spend about two years getting around all the residential aged care
facilities in the ACT.
They have been documenting
the benefits of their service and collecting anecdotal stories.
Matt
showed to members of the group some photos of the mobile dental clinic.
At
the moment they are unable to visit older people with mobility issues living at
home as they are only visiting residential aged care facilities.
In
the future they would like to go with the mobile dental clinic to public events
such as the Floriade to educate people on oral health.
Members
of the group were delighted to see this service being implemented in
residential aged care facilitates in the ACT and congratulated Matt for all his
work on the mobile dental clinic.
A video of the Health Minster talking about the Dental Van can be seen here.
The ACT Government Press Release can be seen here
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| Launching the ACT Mobile Dental Van. Image Credit: ACT Health |
Author: Sandra Avila Secretariat Aged Care Consumer Reference Group
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