“Working on a solution” – Dental practice: no more night shifts from February

The long waiting list at the dental clinic in Innsbruck and the lack of dental care in the country – the “Krone” reported – are a topic for discussion. A new chapter has now been added: night shifts during the week will be discontinued in the dental clinic – on February 1, 2023. This is confirmed by Clemens Rissbacher, commercial director of the General Public State Hospital Innsbruck.

“Patient inquiries are in the single digits every night. However, the number of dentistry students has increased, which is positive. It just means that more doctors are now busy teaching during the day and resources are no longer fully available at night. Because it is the medical college and we are solely responsible for the education in this system. The ÖGK and the Dental Association are responsible for dental care.”

According to the commercial director, about 500,000 euros is needed to maintain the night shifts. “But they are not paid. The ÖGK and the Dental Association must find solutions here.”

“From February we will have two dentists during the day”
But Rissbacher emphasizes that they are not completely withdrawing: “Nocturnal medical emergencies continue to be treated – in the outpatient clinic for oral and facial surgery. In addition, we are doubling the capacity of the dental outpatient clinic during the day. At the moment we employ one dentist per day, from 1 February two.”

And the care at the dental outpatient clinic also remains insured at weekends: it is open continuously from Saturday 8:00 am to Monday 8:00 am.

‘Probably corona-related implementation problem’
Arno Melitopulos, head of ÖGK, explains: “In 2015, a package was put together to guarantee dental care. To reinforce this, a position paper was signed in May 2022 with the RollOn Association, Lebenshilfe Tirol, the Tirol Dental Association and the ÖGK.”

The government is demanding the following: expansion of needs-based care and low-threshold access for patients with special needs, providing dental care close to home and reducing waiting times for anesthesia rehabilitation. “Since then we have been able to attract more established dentists. However, there is a lack of the necessary surgical capacity in the actually agreed form in the hospitals and Tyrolean clinics – probably a corona-related implementation problem.

“No Performance Loss”
And regarding the discontinuation of night shifts, Melitopulos emphasizes: “The Tirol Kliniken assured us that this was not a matter of a deterioration in performance, but of a necessary restructuring within the clinic. The night shift will be continued in a new, improved structure.”

“We are working on a solution”
“Of course the current situation is more than unsatisfactory for those affected. That is why we are working on a solution together with all those responsible,” says ÖVP-LR Cornelia Hagele, “at Innsbruck’s state hospital, the number of these special treatments has been carried out at a consistently high level in recent years, despite the extreme burden on employees due to Covid.” Unfortunately, due to Corona, the number of treatments in other hospitals had to be reduced, which led to longer waiting times.

“Providing dental treatments is primarily the task of the ÖGK in collaboration with the Dental Association. The hospitals have been supporting treatment for many years by providing infrastructure. Among other measures, this offer could also be expanded in the public dental outpatient clinics of the ÖGK,” says Hagele.

“Emergencies will also be treated in the dental clinic in the future, even non-emergency cases will not remain untreated”. However, the dental procedure is only performed during regular opening hours.