Social Work & Private Enterprise Work in Partnership to Improve Public Oral Health Services
This Paper will describe an initiative undertaken in NSW to promote better access for disadvantaged people to public oral health services. The program was led by a Social Worker and it spearheaded an innovative partnership between public and private sectors to develop a call centre to enable better access, better work practices and quality services to the population most in need of public dental services.
The call centre is based in Sydney and links to 30 clinics in regional and rural northern NSW. By promoting access for the cost of a local call, with minimal waiting time, more people can be offered appointments for dental care. Eligible clients are health care card holders and include those with mental illness, disabilities, Aboriginal people and frail aged, many of whom have had difficulty coping with the process of phoning clinics, experiencing prejudice, waiting times on the phone and negotiating appointments. Now standards have improved, complaints reduced and the health service is more true to its value base of access and equity which resounds with the value base of social work and commitment to social justice.
The Paper will highlight linkages at a macro level between values in social work, public oral health and the community of disadvantaged clients it serves. It will also describe capacity within the public sector to partner with private enterprise using technology and staff resources to progress goals of working for the common good within an ethical framework.