HC Deb 26 January 1995 vol 253 cc346-9W
Mr. Donohoe

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what representations he has received since October 1990 from Scottish health boards in relation to the pay structure for dentists and the de-registration of patients.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

No specific representations on these points have been received from health boards. However, all health boards submitted views on the Government's proposals for changes to dentists' remuneration and the provision of NHS general dental services, which were published in the recent consultation document "Improving NHS Dentistry". Ministers are now considering the way forward in the light of all views received.

Mr. Donohoe

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much money has been spent in each of the last five years on the provision of dental services in each health board area in Scotland.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

The information requested is shown in the table.

Scotland: expenditure on general dental services by health board
Health board 11989–90 £ 1990–91 £ 1991–92 £ 1992–93 £ 1993–94 £
Argyll and Clyde 6,290,569 10,802,044 12,890,396 12,411,748 11,917,843
Ayrshire and Arran 5,310,984 9,713,742 11,055,246 10,258,789 9,932,647
Borders 1,130,419 2,140,213 2,558,491 2,685,779 2,688,599
Dumfries and Galloway 1,675,012 3,096,774 3,676,321 3,403,027 3,083,698
Fife 3,995,958 7,163,997 9,427,329 8,527,073 8,778,454
Forth Valley 3,405,517 6,146,760 7,434,756 7,600,139 7,350,682
Grampian 5,667,864 9,787,472 11,880,510 12,737,186 12,379,006
Greater Glasgow 14,820,897 24,687,323 29,297,575 30,173,664 28,749,945
Highland 2,447,005 4,437,021 6,148,825 5,425,063 5,071,681
Lanarkshire 7,063,075 11,973,160 14,023,907 13,287,843 12,892,180
Lothian 10,149,229 17,772,247 21,779,982 22,413,356 22,107,244
Orkney 107,078 167,944 215,526 272,306 268,380
Shetland 151,191 266,018 303,321 340,094 422,639
Tayside 5,414,768 9,949,846 11,651,600 11,698,422 11,754,764
Western Isles 242,736 365,206 483,725 509,997 512,629
Total 167,872,302 118,469,767 142,827,510 141,744,486 137,910,391
Note:
Information taken from the annual accounts of the 15 Scottish health boards.
1 Owing to accounting changes in 1990–91, the 1989–90 figures show net expenditure, i.e., total expenditure less patient charges collected by dentists. From 1990–91 figures show gross expenditure, without deducting patient charges.

Mr. Donohoe

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many dental patients within Scotland received private medical treatment in each of the last five years.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

No information is available on private treatment.

Mr. Donohoe

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many dentists were on each health board's dental list; and how many dentists joined each health board's dental lists and how many dentists withdrew from each health board's dental list in each of the last five financial years.

Table 1: Dentists on health board dental list in Scotland
Health board 1March 1990 1March 1991 21991–92 21992–93 21993–94
Argyll and Clyde 134 142 190 211 205
Ayrshire and Arran 111 120 139 134 139
Borders 33 31 38 38 45
Dumfries and Galloway 39 39 44 45 47
Fife 101 103 128 129 141
Forth Valley 76 82 90 94 102
Grampian 134 138 148 161 178
Greater Glasgow 327 338 391 417 428
Highland 64 67 71 77 78
Lanarkshire 138 144 182 189 193
Lothian 281 271 298 312 333
Orkney 3 3 5 4 4
Shetland 7 7 5 6 7
Tayside 141 144 164 166 169
Western Isles 13 12 10 13 16
Scotland 1,602 1,641 1,733 1,745 1,792
1 For the 1990 and 1991 data the figures show the number of dentists on health board list at 31 March. Dentists contracted to more than one health board are counted only in one health board.
2 For 1991–92, 1992–93 and 1993–94 the figures show the total number of dentists that practised during the financial year in each of the health boards. The data counts some dentists more than once, and so the total number of dentists shown in Scotland for these three years is less than the sum for the health boards.

Table 2: Number of dental list number3 commencements and withdrawals per health board in Scotland
Financial year
Health board 1992–934 1993–94
Commencements Withdrawals Commencements Withdrawals
Argyll and Clyde 41 16 28 30
Ayrshire and Arran 13 4 21 17
Borders 0 0 12 1

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

Table 1 shows the number of individual principal dentists on health board lists for each of the last five financial years. Table 2 shows the number of new list numbers allocated and list numbers cancelled for the most recent two years. It is not possible to identify from these figures the number of individual dentists joining and withdrawing from lists as dentists already on a list may acquire additional list numbers, and dentists who surrender one number may hold other numbers.

Table 2: Number of dental list number3 commencements and withdrawals per health board in Scotland
Financial year
Health board 1992–934 1993–94
Commencements Withdrawals Commencements Withdrawals
Dumfries and Galloway 11 4 9 4
Fife 14 2 33 19
Forth Valley 12 6 22 15
Grampian 43 16 48 42
Greater Glasgow 63 19 79 70
Highland 15 5 16 12
Lanarkshire 18 14 22 16
Lothian SO 29 63 44
Orkney 0 0 1 0
Shetland 2 0 1 0
Tayside 25 14 40 33
Western Isles 3 3 4 3
Scotland 310 132 339 306
3 A dentist may hold one or more list numbers. The table shows a count of the list numbers that commenced in the given period, not dentists.
4 Information on a comparable basis cannot be provided for previous years.