THE HIGH Court has reserved judgment on a bid by two dentists for injunctions preventing the HSE implementing changes to the scheme providing free dental treatment for medical card holders.
The orders are sought pending the outcome of a full challenge to the HSE decision. Ms Justice Mary Laffoy will rule on the injunctions application next Wednesday.
Dentists Martin Reid and James Turner claim the changes outlined in a HSE circular last April radically confine the services to medical card holders to emergency services and one oral examination in a 12-month period.
The changes will have “a dramatic effect on public health” and amount to a breach of the HSE’s agreement with dentists to provide dental services for medical card holders, they claim.
The dentists are seeking an injunction restraining the HSE giving effect to the circular of April 26th last, issued by the primary care reimbursement service which resulted in changes to the dental treatment services scheme.
They also want an injunction preventing the HSE breaching the agreement between dentists and the HSE for the provision of dental services to medical card holders.
The HSE has denied the claims and contends it has acted properly in implementing the changes to the dental treatment services scheme.
Bill Shipsey SC, for the dentists, said they had brought the proceedings because they believed the HSE’s decision unilaterally varied the terms of the scheme and amounted to a breach of contract by the HSE.
He said the scheme was established in 1994 between dentists and the old health boards to provide dental care for those on the medical card scheme. The agreement was revised in 1999.
Mr Shipsey argued the HSE was not entitled to amend the contract on dental treatment on grounds of a provision in the 1999 agreement stating the HSE has “the right to take whatever measures are necessary to live within budget and statutory obligations”.
In view of the current economic difficulties, the HSE sought to reduce the amount spent on the scheme from an estimated €88 million in 2010 to a 2008 level of €63 million. Both dentists expressed concern for the future of their practices if the changes are implemented.
Mark Connaughton SC, for the HSE, denied it had acted disproportionately and said it was entitled to make the changes and had done so in a “careful, considered and measured” manner.