§ Mr. McCartneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) how many general dental practitioners in Scotland received remuneration for NHS treatments in each year since 1983.
(2) how many general dental practitioners in Scotland were registered with the Dental Practice Board in each year since 1983.
§ Mr. Stewart[holding answer 17 June 1994]: To receive remuneration for national health service treatment a dentist must be on a health board's dental list. The number of general dental practitioners registered on health board dental lists to provide national health service general dental services in Scotland is contained in the table.
Number of dentists on health board dental lists in Scotland at 31 December Year Number of dentists 1983 1,379 1984 1,360 1985 1,392 1986 1,456 1987 1,511 1988 1,528 1989 1,587 1990 1,626 1991 1,666 1992 1,680 1993 1,774
§ Mr. McCartneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many general dental practitioners qualified and took up national health service practice in Scotland in each year since 1983.
§ Mr. Stewart[holding answer 17 June 1994]: The numbers of dentists who qualified are as follows:
57W
Year Number 1984 152 1985 153 1986 127 1987 145 1988 150 1989 146 1990 142 1991 133
Year Number 1992 120 1993 135 Information is not held centrally on how many took up NHS practice in Scotland. In recent years most dental graduates have undertaken a year's vocational training before becoming a general dental practitioner. As from October 1993 this became mandatory.
§ Mr. McCartneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many dental de-registrations there were in Scotland in the period 1985 to 1993.
§ Mr. Stewart[holding answer 17 June 1994]: Formal arrangements for patients to register with a specific dentist were introduced under the new contract for general dental services on 1 October 1990. Information supplied by health boards shows there have been around 17,000 de-registrations in the period October 1990 to December 1993.
§ Mr. McCartneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what plans he has for a review of orthodontic services in Scotland.
§ Mr. Stewart[holding answer 17 June 1994]: There are no plans for a review of orthodontic services specifically. However, the system of dental remuneration is currently under review, following consultation on the Bloomfield report.
§ Mr. McCartneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many clients were registered in Scotland with general dental practitioners in each year since 1983.
§ Mr. Stewart[holding answer 17 June 1994]: Formal arrangements for patients to be registered with a specific dentist were introduced under the new contract for general dental practitioners on 1 October 1990. The number of people registered with a dentist in Scotland is contained in the table.
Number of people registered with a dentist in Scotland as at 31 March Year Number registered 1991 1,710,947 1992 2,485,531 1993 2,528,268 1994 2,514,816
§ Mr. McCartneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many NHS episodes of orthodontic treatment there were for Scotland for the period 1983 to 1993; and what was the cost of NHS orthodontic treatment for Scotland for the same period.
§ Mr. Stewart[holding answer 17 June 1994]: NHS orthodontic treatment is provided through the general dental service, community dental service and hospital dental service. Information on treatment and cost, where available, is shown in the tables.
58W
Table 1 Orthodontic treatments in the General Dental Service in Scotland: 1983–1993 Year 1 Number of treatments 2 3 Total cost (including patient contributions)4 1983 18,321 1,556,020 1984 17,334 1,613,631 1985 17,794 1,882,173 1986 16,874 2,220,719 1987 15,929 2,567,395 1988 16,151 3,183,938 1989 18,499 3,445,292 1990 17,949 3,622,600 1991–92 16,305 3,009,660 1992–93 22,735 3,513,233 1Information is for calendar years from 1983 to 1990. From 1991–92 information is for financial years. 2The number of treatments is a count of the number of forms with an orthodontic appliance. This includes retention and replacement applicances. 3Differences in the number of treatments may be due to changes in the definition of orthodontic treatment items in 1987, 1989 and 1990. 4The cost of orthodontic treatment from 1983 to 1990 include examinations and study models. From 1991 the cost excludes examinations and study models.
Table 2 Orthodontic treatment episodes in the Hospital Dental Service in Scotland: 1983–1993 Year ending 31 March New out-patients at consultant clinics In-patient and day case discharges 1983 14,523 10 1984 14,371 1 1985 15,514 195 1986 16,059 493 1987 18,012 746 1988 19,103 891 1989 18,898 952 1990 119,487 858 1991 18,825 1,089 1992 20,739 955 1993 22,597 494 1Estimated. Information on costs is not available centrally.
Table 3 Orthodontic treatment episodes in the Community Dental Service in Scotland: 1988–1993 Year1 Number of Orthodontic Episodes of Treatment 1988 5,727 1989 7,349 1990 9,523 1991 8,550 1992 7,417 1993 6,992 1No information is available prior to 1988. Information on costs is not available centrally.
§ Mr. McCartneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what is his estimate of the number of individuals who received private orthodontic treatments in Scotland during the period from 1983 to 1993.
§ Mr. Stewart[holding answer 17 June 1994]: No information is held on private dental treatment.
59W
§ Mr. McCartneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many patients are waiting for orthodontic treatment in Scotland.
§ Mr. Stewart[holding answer 17 June 1994]: At 31 December 1993, the latest date for which information is centrally available, there were 12 patients waiting for in-patient treatment in orthodontics and paediatric dentistry. No patients were waiting for day case treatment. Information on patients waiting for out-patient treatment is not centrally available.