Government enhances Community Dental Support Programme to supplant Community Care Fund Elderly Dental Assistance Programme next year
The Government announced today (August 15) that the scope of services for the Community Dental Support Programme (CDSP) will be expanded next year to further enhance subsidised preventive and curative dental services for the underprivileged with financial difficulties. The CDSP will also supplant the Community Care Fund Elderly Dental Assistance Programme (EDAP) which will cease to accept applications from January 1 next year.
The CDSP's scope of services will be expanded with effect from January 1 next year. In addition to providing the existing services of oral health assessments, medication for dental pain relief, X-ray examinations and dental fillings or extractions, new service items, namely dental scalings, root canal treatments, removal of bridges or crowns and removable denture fittings will be introduced.
The Department of Health (DH) launched the CDSP on May 26 this year with 32 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) providing services to eligible participants at 78 service points. As at August 6, a total of 1 892 eligible persons had received subsidised dental services, which included 2 549 dental fillings and 906 extractions. The ratio of the two is approximately three to one, reflecting that the CDSP has successfully guided service users towards tooth retention when the dentist considers it suitable, aligning with the Government’s initiatives on oral health and dental care.
After expansion of the CDSP's service scope, subject to the assessment by the attending registered dentist, each participant can receive dental scaling services and a root canal treatment for one tooth every 365 days. Regarding removable denture fittings, each participant can receive the service up to two times, with an interval of at least five years in between. To ensure the proper use of limited resources to achieve greater cost-effectiveness, and to allow the underprivileged to receive the most effective treatment services, the removable dentures fitting service will only be available to eligible persons with fewer than 20 remaining teeth. That person must first be assessed by a dentist as having difficulties in eating or chewing and their eating abilities could be effectively restored by the fitting of removable dentures.
The CDSP will also expand the beneficiaries list to cover the homeless, further focusing on providing subsidised dental services to the underprivileged in need. The CDSP will make use of the existing network of NGOs that serves the homeless, allowing them to be certified and referred by registered social workers in designated NGOs to participate in the CDSP, even when they are unable to provide the required financial proof to meet the eligibility criteria.
The CDSP is funded under a co-payment arrangement; apart from Government subsidies, participants have to bear part of the service cost for managing their own health. They are required to pay a fee to the NGO providing the service with details as follows:
(1) Integrated Home Care Services (Frail Cases) / Enhanced Home and Community Care Services / Home Support Services (Level 1 fee charge or co-payment category) of the Social Welfare Department; or
(2) Patients of the Hospital Authority (HA) who have been provided Medical Fee Waiver (full waiving) of the HA (including recipients of Old Age Living Allowance aged 75 or above); or
(3) The homeless
Remarks: Each set of removable dentures refers to either upper or lower dentures. Fitting both upper and lower removable dentures at the same time is considered receiving the removable dentures fitting service once. Elderly people can make use of Elderly Health Care Vouchers to pay for the administration/co-payment fees under the CDSP.
For details of the CDSP (including the administration fee of services), please visit the CDSP webpageor call the hotline at 2111 3403. More details about the expanded service scope and beneficiaries will be announced on the webpage in due course.
Meanwhile, the EDAP will cease accepting applications with effect from January 1 next year. Eligible elders must submit their application for the EDAP through their service unit on or before December 31 this year, and attend the first consultation no later than January 31 next year. The elder can receive dental services under the EDAP if considered necessary and suitable after examination by a dentist. After the EDAP ceases accepting new applications, the CDSP will supplant the EDAP to provide services. The scope of services of the CDSP after the enhancement will be in line with that of the EDAP.
Information about the EDAP, the list of district service units and Community Care Dentists/Dental Clinics have been uploaded to the Community Care Fund webpage and Hong Kong Dental Association webpage. For enquiries, please call the EDAP hotline at 2525 8198.
The Government’s oral health policy aims to enable all Hong Kong citizens to enhance their oral hygiene and lifestyles. By adopting the strategies of developing community-wide preventive primary oral healthcare while providing essential dental care services targeting underprivileged groups in formulating the dental services, the Government aims to assist the citizens to put prevention, early identification and timely intervention of dental diseases into action with the objective of tooth retention, thereby further enhancing both oral health and general health levels. Based on the recommendations of the Working Group on Oral Health and Dental Care Final Report, the DH launched the CDSP as an initiative to provide essential dental care services targeting the underprivileged, focusing on providing subsidised preventive and curative dental services to the underprivileged with financial difficulties.
Government enhances Community Dental Support Programme to supplant Community Care Fund Elderly Dental Assistance Programme next year Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
