HC Deb 31 January 1995 vol 253 cc652-6W
Mr. Donohoe

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much additional expenditure each health board has incurred as a result of dentists de-registering patients following the changes in their pay structure implemented by the Scottish Office in October 1990; and how much of this expenditure has been reimbursed to them by the Scottish Office.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 26 January 1995,Official Report, columns 346–48, giving expenditure on general dental services over the past five years by each health board. It is not possible to to attribute changes in expenditure to specific causes. All legitimate costs incurred in providing general dental services are met from central funds.

Mr. Donohoe

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland which health boards have emergency dental services; when these dental services were established; how much it has cost to provide these services; and how many patients have received treatment from this emergency dental service in each of the last five financial years.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

Since 1990, general dental practitioners have been responsible for providing emergency dental treatment for their own registered patients. Health boards may also set up emergency dental services to provide treatment out of hours, at weekends and on public holidays where necessary, using general dental practitioners and/or community dental staff. The table shows which Scottish health boards operate formal emergency dental services and when these services were established. It is not possible to identify separately the cost of providing emergency dental services from the overall costs of the general dental service. Information is not held centrally on the number of patients who receive treatment under emergency dental services.

Emergency dental services available When services established
Argyll and Clyde
Ayrshire and Arran yes 1982
Borders yes October 1990
Dumfries and Galloway
Fife yes 1989
Forth Valley yes 1986
Grampian yes 1982
Greater Glasgow yes 1982
Highland
Lanarkshire
Lothian yes 1977
Orkney yes Pre-October 1990
Shetland yes Pre-October 1990
Tayside yes 1982
Western Isles

Mr. Donohoe

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) how many patients were de-registered by their dentists in the financial year 1993–94; how many patients have been de-registered by their dentists in the financial year 1994–95 so far; and how many dental practices were involved in these de-registrations in each health board area in Scotland;

(2) how many patients have been de-registered by their dentists; and how many patients in each of these years were still in receipt of dental treatment, in each of the last five years.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

Formal arrangements for patients to be registered with a dentist were introduced in October 1990. Information supplied by health boards about de-registrations since that date is contained in the table. It is not possible to identify individual patients de-registered or to establish whether each subsequently received treatment from another dentist.

October 1990–March 1991
Health Board Number of patients de-registered 1Number of dentists involved
Argyll and Clyde 3 1
Ayrshire and Arran
Borders 1 1
Dumfries and Galloway
Fife 1 1
Forth Valley
Grampian
Greater Glasgow 7 5
Highland 4 3

October 1990–March 1991
Health Board Number of patients de-registered 1Number of dentists involved
Lanarkshire 4 4
Lothian 18 2
Orkney
Shetland
Tayside n/a n/a
Western Isles
n/a—not available.
Notes:1 Number of dentists involved in de-registration in a particular year.

April 1991–March 1992
Health Board Number of patients de-registered 1Number of dentists involved
Argyll and Clyde 25 2
Ayrshire and Arran 14 10
Borders 11 4
Dumfries and Galloway 11 2
Fife
Forth Valley 42 12
Grampian 9 5
Greater Glasgow 41 36
Highland 19 12
Lanarkshire 70 10
Lothian 101 21
Orkney
Shetland
Tayside n/a n/a
Western Isles
n/a—not available.
Notes:1 Number of dentists involved in de-registration in a particular year.

April 1992–March 1993
Health Board Number of patients de-registered 1Number of dentists involved
Argyll and Clyde 2,241 14
Ayrshire and Arran 1,309 11
Borders 1,432 4
Dumfries and Galloway 4,518 10
Fife 295 32
Forth Valley 201 23
Grampian 257 21
Greater Glasgow 579 45
Highland 210 24
Lanarkshire 252 29
Lothian 483 23
Orkney
Shetland
Tayside 2206 229
Western Isles 37 4
Notes:1 Number of dentists involved in de-registration in a particular year.
2 From July 1992.

April 1993–March 1994
Health Board Number of patients de-registered 1Number of dentists involved
Argyll and Clyde 42 1
Ayrshire and Arran 400 13
Borders 683 4
Dumfries and Galloway 1,388 10
Fife 417 21
Forth Valley 63 18
Grampian 179 18

April 1993–March 1994
Health Board Number of patients de-registered 1Number of dentists involved
Greater Glasgow 339 49
Highland 73 24
Lanarkshire 145 25
Lothian 1,625 17
Orkney
Shetland
Tayside 57 11
Western Isles 16 4
Notes1 Number of dentists involved in de-registration in a particular year.

April 1994–December 1994
Health Board Number of patients de-registered 1Number of dentists involved
Argyll and Clyde 16
Ayrshire and Arran 65 17
Borders 41 4
Dumfries and Galloway 724 16
Fife 439 24
Forth Valley 184
Grampian 140 35
Greater Glasgow 893 87
Highland 67 32
Lanarkshire 47 57
Lothian 650 22
Orkney

Interactive Non-interactive Total
29 October-20 November 1992 573 186 759
21 November-18 December 1992 315 395 710
19 December–15 January 1993 383 291 674
16 January–12 February 1993 973 330 1,303
13 February–12 March 1993 621 519 1,140
13 March–9 April 1993 714 500 1,214
10 April–7 May 1993 472 362 834
8 May–4 June 1993 539 436 975
5 June –2 July 1993 579 549 1,128
3 July–30 July 1993 647 589 1,236
31 July–27 August 1993 366 495 861
28 August-24 September 1993 323 478 801
25 September–22 October 1993 420 639 1,059
23 October–19 November 1993 319 446 765
20 November–17 December 1993 285 359 644
18 December–14 January 1994 256 305 561
15 January–11 February 1994 543 413 956
12 February–11 March 1994 524 515 1,039
12 March–8 April 1994 346 444 790
9 April–6 May 1994 653 512 1,165
7 May–3 June 1994 398 426 824
4 June–1 July 1994 566 714 1,280
2 July–29 July 1994 360 844 1,204
30 July–26 August 1994 430 626 1,056
27 August-23 September 1994 734 398 1,132
24 September-21 October 1994 4,031 337 4,3681
22 October-18 November 1994 5,090 1,554 6,6441
19 November–16 December 1994 2,003 428 2,431
17 December–12 January 1995 514 566 1,080
Total 23,977 14,656 38,633
1 Corrected and updated figures.

April 1994–December 1994
Health Board Number of patients de-registered 1Number of dentists involved
Shetland
Tayside 361 48
Western Isles
Notes:1 For 1994–95 the figures show the running total of dentists involved in de-registration from July 1992 to December 1994.

Mr. Donohoe

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what assessment the Scottish Office has made of the impact of de-registration of patients on the dental health of the overall population.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

The number of patients registered with general dental practitioners has decreased by less than 1 per cent. over the last 12 months from 2,650,925 to 2,632,878. Patients can be de-registered 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.

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