§ Mr. DonohoeTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many dentists have been recruited by each of Scotland's health boards in each of the last three years; and how many dentists are currently employed by each of Scotland's health boards.
§ Mr. Stewart[holding answer 16 February 1994]: The information requested is shown in table 1. General dental practitioners are not employed by health boards but are independent contractors who join a health board's dental list and undertake to provide NHS dental services. The number of general dental practitioners on health board dental lists is contained in table 2.
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Table 1 Hospital, community and salaried dentists; by health board: at 30 September Recruits in year ending 30 September Number in post 1991 1992 1993 19931 Scotland 62 60 29 462 Argyll and Clyde 5 5 3 30 Ayrshire and Arran 3 2 1 21 Borders 1 — — 9 Dumfries and Galloway 1 — 1 13 Fife 2 4 2 26 Forth Valley 3 1 1 15 Grampian 6 6 — 31 Greater Glasgow 17 10 7 112 Highland 4 2 5 25 Lanarkshire 4 1 6 36 Lothian 11 26 2 98 Orkney — 1 — 3 Shetland — 2 — 5 Tayside 4 — 3 53 Western Isles 1 2 1 8 1 Some dentists may hold contracts in more than one health board and are therefore double counted.
Table 2 Number of general dental practitioners on health board dental lists as at 30 September 1993 Health Board Number Argyll and Clyde 163 Ayrshire and Arran 126 Borders 34 Dumfries and Galloway 40 Fife 116 Forth Valley 81 Grampian 160 Greater Glasgow 356 Highland 67 Lanarkshire 142 Lothian 283 Orkney 3 Shetland 6 Tayside 139 Western Isles 10 Total 1,726