Holes in school dental budget

Four Waikato schools promised new dental clinics will now miss out because the Waikato District Health Board says they are unaffordable.

Last year the DHB announced plans for new school clinics but last week it released a revised $9.78 million school dental plan.

Of the original schools earmarked for new dental clinics Bankwood, Melville and Te Awamutu primary schools, along with Silverdale Normal, will now rely on mobile assessment clinics to service their schools.

The decision has left some principals disappointed.

Melville Primary School principal Dianne Pollard-Williams said her school was "extremely disappointed" when told it would not get a new dental clinic which had been earmarked last year.

"We are a low socio-economic area so to have a clinic based here 52 weeks a year was going to be huge for our community," Mrs Pollard-Williams said.

Although the school would be "well serviced" by mobile dental assessment units, she said that arrangement was not the same scenario as a dental clinic model.

"The mobile clinic is only here three to five weeks a year rather than being on our doorstep all year round – it's quite a big difference," she said.

Silverdale Normal principal Lynne Holder feared the revised list would see a decline in the health of children's teeth.

"Our nearest clinic will be Peachgrove Intermediate and that is a long way for parents who don't have cars, who work or who attend university. If they can't make it across town what happens to their children's teeth?" Mrs Holder asked.

Te Awamutu Primary principal Gareth Duncan said he was "disappointed" at having lost an on-site dental clinic opportunity.

"It's not so much about the school but it would have been a great opportunity for our town as an oral healthcare option for children in our community," Mr Duncan said.

District health board school dental service manager Diane Pevreal said though original plans were for nine new on-site school clinics the budget required for refurbishments and legislative requirements made the original plans unaffordable.

"When we costed up the original plan it was over budget. We were required to meet the existing budget and we did not have the money to expand the project," Mrs Pevreal said.

Original costings for the school dental service expansions were done in 2007, according to Mrs Pevreal. Inflation and rising costs of technology had affected existing budgets.

"When we saw the budget was not sufficient for our original plans we had to make cuts based on the least amount of impact," Mrs Pevreal said.

The mobile fleet would increase from six to 15 vehicles servicing 129 mobile sites throughout the region, she said.

The permanent clinics would be based at Cambridge, Morrinsville and Frankton primary schools together with Peachgrove and Fairfield intermediate schools and Firth Primary School in Matamata. Refurbished space at Tokoroa Hospital would create a seventh clinic.

- © Fairfax NZ News