§ Mr. Wilsonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) if he will estimate the total number of people in Scotland who have a cardiac pacemaker;
(2) how many patients in Scotland have received a cardiac pacemaker in each of the last 10 years.
Mr. MackayThe figures available for pacemaker operations, which are shown in the following table, group together operations for the initial insertion of pacemakers and for the replacement of existing pacemakers or of batteries:
Number 1973 219 1974 273 1975 396 1976 500 1977 591 1978 625 1979 649 1980 620 1981 593 *1982 598 *Latest available date. These figures are not a reliable indication of the number of people in Scotland who have received cardiac pacemakers, and it is not possible to make an estimate of this total.