§ Mr. DonohoeTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many people have been deregistered by their dentists in each of the Scottish health board areas during each of the last five years; and how many dentists in each of the Scottish health board areas have been involved in the deregistration.
§ Mr. Stewart[holding answer 16 February 1994]: Formal arrangements for patients to be registered with a specific dentist were introduced under the new contract for general dental services on 1 October 1990. Information about deregistrations since 1 October 1990 supplied by health boards for their area is contained in the table.
1067W
October 1990-March 1991 April 1991-March 1992 April 1992-March 1993 April 1993-February 1994 Health Board Number of patients deregistered Number of dentists1 involved Number of patients deregistered Number of dentists1 involved Number of patients deregistered Number of dentists1 involved Number of patients deregistered Number of dentists1 involved Argyll and Clyde 3 1 25 2 2,241 14 42 7 Aryshire and Arran Nil Nil 14 10 1,309 11 373 13 Borders 1 1 11 4 1,432 9 661 9 Dumfries and Galloway Nil Nil 11 2 4,518 10 1,309 10 Fife 1 1 Nil Nil 295 32 116 21 Forth Valley Nil Nil 42 12 201 23 63 18 Grampian Nil Nil 9 5 257 21 178 18 Greater Glasgow 7 5 41 36 579 45 305 44 Highland 4 3 19 12 210 24 67 23 Lanarkshire 4 4 70 10 252 29 123 23 Lothian 18 2 101 21 483 23 1,446 17 Orkney Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil Shetland Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil Tayside n/a n/a n/a n/a 2206 229 36 8 Western Isles Nil Nil Nil Nil 37 4 16 4 n/a=Not available. 1 Number of dentists involved in deregistration in a particular year. 2 From July 1992.
§ Mr. DonohoeTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what additional revenues he has made available to Scottish health boards to enable them to respond to patients needing emergency NHS dental treatment.
§ Mr. Stewart[holding answer 16 February 1994]: Health boards are responsible for the provision of general dental services including emergency dental services where necessary. Since 1990, general dental practitioners have been responsible for providing emergency dental services for their registered patients. All legitimate costs incurred in providing general dental services are met from central funds.
§ Mr. DonohoeTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what assessment the Scottish Office has made of increases in the costs of dental treatment in Scotland as a result of the Government's changes in the payment framework for dentists treating NHS patients.
§ Mr. Stewart[holding answer 16 February 1994]: There have been no recent changes in the system for paying NHS dentists. The Government will publish their response to the Bloomfield report and its proposals for the future in due course.
§ Mr. DonohoeTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what assessment the Scottish Office has made of the impact of dentists deregistering their patients on the level of dental health in Scotland.
1068W
§ Mr. Stewart[holding answer 16 February 1994]: The number of patients registered with general dental practitioners has decreased by less than 2 per cent. over the last 18 months from 2,700,874 to 2,650,925. Patients can be deregistered by their dentists for a variety of reasons. It is not possible to relate this information directly to the level of dental health in Scotland.
§ Mr. DonohoeTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland when the Government will respond to the Bloomfield report; and what the Scottish Office's involvement will be in this response.
§ Mr. Stewart[holding answer 16 February 1994]: The Government will publish its response to the Bloomfield report in due course. Scottish Office Ministers and officials have been closely involved in developing the Government's response which will apply equally to the whole of the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. DonohoeTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what representations he has received from Scotland's health boards regarding the Government's response to the Bloomfield report.
§ Mr. Stewart[holding answer 16 February 1994]: The Government will publish their response to the Bloomfield report in due course. No representations have been received from health boards.