§ Dr. Godmanasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing the number of psychosurgical operations performed in Scottish hospitals in each of the last five years; and if he will define them by type.
§ Mr. John MacKayPsychosurgery is performed very infrequently in Scotland and is not recorded as such in the Scottish hospital inpatient statistics. Information is, however, collated on operations involving division of the brain tissue and, by counting separately the numbers of such operations where there is also a diagnosis of mental disorder, it is possible to derive a number of operations which may be assumed to fall within the category of psychosurgery, though no information is available by type of psychosurgery. In the last five years for which figures are available, the number of such operations is as follows: 283W
number 1978 2 1979 1 1980 2 1981 1 1982 1
§ Dr. Godmanasked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many amidalaectomies have been performed in Scottish hospitals in each of the last five years.
§ Mr. John MacKayI assume that the hon. Gentleman has in mind amygdalotomy which is a rare form of psychosurgery. It is not possible to differentiate this operation from other operations involving the division of brain tissue, and no statistics on the number of amygdalotomy are available centrally.