The State Government is considering closing the Noosa Dental Clinic due to its low utilisation rate and as part of a broader infrastructure review which includes increasing services at Nambour.
Noosa MP Sandy Bolton has received advice from the Health Minister identifying the Noosa Dental Clinic as a “high-cost service relative to other Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service (HHS) dental clinics in the context of the ratio of clinicians to support staff required” in the two-chair clinic, located at 14 Bottlebrush Ave, Noosa Heads.
In the advice the Minister says Noosa Dental Clinic operates with the highest cost per chair, of any SCHHS Dental Clinic ($136,474 annually compared to most efficient clinic $44,133 annually) and recruiting dentists to the Noosa Dental Clinic has been challenging.
The Noosa region has the lowest average utilisation rates of public dental services within the Sunshine Coast HHS catchment.
The average utilisation rate for Noosa Heads is 4.5 per cent for the 65+ age group and 11.9 cent for the 16-64 age group compared to 24.8 per cent usage for the 65+ age group in Caloundra and 20.7 per cent for the 16-64 age group for Gympie Surrounds.
Ms Bolton has been informed Noosa Dental Clinic will remain open until expansion of the Nambour Dental Clinic is completed and operational, this remains in the early planning stages and is not expected for at least 12-24 months.
If the Noosa Dental Clinic closes (two chairs), overall, Sunshine Coast HHS will still increase chair capacity, with four extra chairs opening in Nambour and all staffing positions will be retained, following a Business Case for Change process to move existing Noosa staff to Nambour, the Minister said.
Sunshine Coast HHS is exploring alternative service delivery models to full closure, such as part-time opening of the Noosa facility.
If closure of the clinic proceeds, services can continue to be offered at alternative locations and via existing outsourcing arrangements with private dentists.
In the event the Noosa Dental Clinic is closed, an on-demand booking service for transport to alternative dental clinics will be made available for Noosa residents, with designated pick-up and drop-off points to ensure timely and reliable transport for patients.
All appointments for the dental clinic are made by calling the SCHHS Oral Health Call Centre on 1300 300 850.
For adults to be eligible for free public oral health services they must be Queensland residents, be eligible for Medicare1, and be receiving benefits from one of the following concession cards:
o Pensioner Concession Card issued by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs; o Pensioner Concession Card issued by Centrelink;
o Health Care Card;
o Commonwealth Seniors Health Card; or,
o Queensland Seniors Card.
Ms Bolton has called on Noosa electorate residents to provide feedback on the clinic’s proposed closure to inform her advocacy on the issue via email on noosa@parliament.qld.gov.au
For those who wish to directly advocate, email the Queensland Minister for Health via health@ministerial.qld.gov.au.
Updates on local matters are available on Noosa 360 at www.sandybolton.com/noosa360.
