§ Mr. DonohoeTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list for each year quarter since October 1990(a) the number of people deregistered with dentists
October 1990–March 1991 April 1991–March 1992 April 1992–March 1993 Health board Number of patients de-registered Number of dentists1 involved Number of patients de-registered Number of dentists2 involved Number of patients de-registered Number of dentists1 involved Argyll and Clyde 3 1 25 2 2,241 14 Ayrshire and Arran — — 14 10 1,309 11 Borders 1 1 11 4 1,432 4 Dumfries and Galloway — — 11 2 4,518 10 Fife 1 1 — — 295 32 Forth Valley — — 42 12 201 23 Grampian — — 9 5 257 21 Greater Glasgow 7 5 41 36 579 45 Highland 4 3 19 12 210 24 Lanarkshire 4 4 70 10 252 29 Lothian 18 2 101 21 483 23 Orkney — — — — — — Shetland — — — — — — Tayside n/a n/a n/a n/a 2061 291 Western Isles — — — — 37 4 Scotland 38 — 343 — 12,020 —
April 1993–March 1994 April 1994–March 1995 April 1995—March 1996 Health beard Number of patients de-registered Number of dentists1 involved Number of patients de-registered Number of dentists2 involved Number of patients de-registered Number of dentists2 involved Argyll and Clyde 42 7 — 5 109 6 Ayrshire and Arran 400 13 91 13 18 13 Borders 683 4 41 4 — 4 Dumfries and Galloway 1,388 10 901 12 231 18 Fife 417 21 510 26 335 26 Forth Valley 63 18 210 n/a 105 4 Grampian 179 18 361 9 2,594 9 Greater Glasgow 339 49 1,070 87 249 89 Highland 73 24 78 33 1,113 37 Lanarkshire 145 25 83 72 445 86 Lothian 1,625 17 1,319 20 954 20 Orkney — — — — — — Shetland — — — — — — Tayside 57 11 641 49 803 67 Western Isles 16 4 — 4 — 4 Scotland 5,427 — 5,305 — 6,956 — n/a—not available. 1Number of dentists involved in de-registration in that year. 2For 1994–95 and 1995–96 the figures show the running total of dentists involved in de-registration from July 1992 to March 1996. 3From July 1992. 4Revised Health Board figures.
§ Mr. DonohoeTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland on what basis dentists can deregister an NHS patient; and what recourse is open to patients. [6420]
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonGeneral dental practitioners are independent contractors who are free to choose whether to provide NHS treatment to individual patients. Dentists may decide to deregister patients for a variety of reasons including debts owed by the patient, where the dentist leaves the practice or when a dentist chooses to stop offering NHS treatment. Regulations lay down that a dentist who wishes to end a patient's registration prematurely without his/her agreement must give three months' written notice and complete any outstanding treatment before the patient may be552W as NHS patients and the number of dentists involved in these deregistrations for each health board in Scotland and (b) the total number of people deregistered as NHS patients with dentists. [6422]
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonQuarterly information is not available. Information supplied by health boards on deregistrations for financial years is contained in the table. Deregistered patients may subsequently register with another dentist.
The total number of patients registered in 1995–96 was 52 per cent. higher than in 1990–91.
deregistered. A dentist may end a registration at less than three months' notice only with the agreement of the health board. Health boards will help patients who have been deregistered to find an alternative dentist willing to accept them under NHS arrangements.
§ Mr. DonohoeTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what representations his Department has received about the impact of the revised NHS scale of payments of dentists on NHS dentistry; and what evaluation he has made of the impact of the new payments scales on the scale of private sector dentistry. [6421]
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonNone. The package of reforms to the general dental services remuneration 553W system reflected in the change to the NHS scale of payments introduced from 1 September 1996 is designed to improve patient services, provide stability and security for the dental profession and create a firm foundation for future work.
§ Mr. DonohoeTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list for each health board area in Scotland for each of the last six financial years(a) how
Table 1: Revenue from general dental services1 Health boards 1990–91 £ 1991–92 £ 1992–93 £ 1993–94 £ 1994–95 £ 1995–962 £ Argyll and Clyde 2,995,388 3,475,778 3,135,383 3,000,141 3,346,415 3,357,031 Ayrshire and Arran 2,632,018 3,050,538 2,596,019 2,479,686 2,604,574 2,631,284 Borders 778,403 947,922 936,308 970,793 1,074,052 1,098,292 Dumfries and Galloway 1,051,112 1,229,482 1,101,396 1,013,886 1,051,022 995,736 Fife 2,361,178 3,582,029 2,619,789 2,710,613 2,698,084 2,993,009 Forth Valley 1,938,517 2,255,214 2,245,976 2,284,620 2,487,376 2,427,843 Grampian 3,372,338 3,928,074 4,632,843 4,634,247 4,870,395 3,692,675 Greater Glasgow 6,315,947 7,181,189 6,677,092 6,698,371 6,962,943 7,080,520 Highland 1,430,779 2,365,987 1,736,604 1,588,872 1,423,879 1,411,950 Lanarkshire 3,319,722 3,817,127 3,492,722 3,551,118 3,891,645 3,785,757 Lothian 6,269,075 7,180,003 6,654,312 7,200,628 7,315,869 7,622,652 Orkney 80,729 100,493 111,469 115,103 133,607 135,024 Shetland 61,932 101,864 142,621 176,845 173,103 175,619 Tayside 3,313,446 3,718,126 3,637,377 3,904,751 4,086,181 4,060,688 Western Isles 93,695 139,792 134,333 118,060 165,394 172,688 Scotland 36,013,679 43,075,618 39,854,244 40,447,734 42,266,539 42,640,768 1Charges paid by patients in contribution towards the cost of general dental services are offset against total Government spending on this service. 2The figures for 1995–96 are provisional.
§ Mr. DonohoeTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how many people were registered with dentists as NHS patients in Scotland for each of the last six financial years; and what assessment his Department has made of trends in the number of patients registered. [6424]
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonThe information requested is contained in the tables.
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Table 2: Average amount paid in charges by dental patients—Scotland1 Health board 1990–912 £ 1991–92 £ 1992–93 £ 1993–94 £ 1994–95 £ 1995–96 £ Scotland 23.60 24.34 23.33 23.12 24.21 24.20 Argyll and Clyde 25.00 25.06 24.33 24.11 25.67 25.77 Ayrshire and Arran 23.30 24.04 22.09 22.18 23.79 23.75 Borders 17.30 17.55 18.24 18.25 18.82 18.92 Dumfries and Galloway 21.50 22.49 21.25 21.62 21.87 21.71 Fife 22.30 22.99 22.21 22.02 23.68 23.40 Forth Valley 24.50 24.96 23.75 23.19 24.63 24.23 Grampian 21.50 22.22 21.71 21.19 21.77 21.65 Greater Glasgow 26.90 27.80 26.60 26.50 27.59 27.69 Highland 26.60 26.87 25.04 23.78 25.08 25.04 Lanarkshire 25.50 26.83 25.13 24.48 25.96 26.31 Lothian 23.10 23.68 22.83 22.69 23.48 23.81 Orkney 15.00 16.42 17.42 18.34 20.56 17.66 Shetland 19.10 19.66 22.35 26.89 25.86 23.04 Tayside 22.50 22.98 22.13 22.44 23.53 23.24 Western Isles 21.50 27.51 26.48 24.31 27.35 26.68 1Total amount paid by patients divided by the total number of courses of treatment for patients who paid a charge. 2The figures for 1990–91 are rounded to nearest 10p. much revenue has been raised in NHS charges for dental treatment, (b) the average charge for dental treatment levied on NHS patients and (c) how many people were registered with dentists as NHS patients. [6423]
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonThe information requested is contained in the tables.
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Patients registered with General Dental Practitioners in Scotland at 31 March Financial year Number 1990–91 1,710,947 1991–92 2,502,684 1992–93 2,548,095 1993–94 2,514,816 1994–95 2,496,098 1995–96 2,605,233
Table 3: Number of patient registrations Financial Year Health board 1990–911 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 Scotland 1,710,947 2,502,684 2,548,095 2,514,816 2,496,098 2,605,233 Argyll and Clyde 146,481 213,990 212,219 207,647 205,642 215,682 Ayrshire and Arran 170,743 221,072 200,998 198,376 193,114 200,210 Borders 38,118 52,771 53,897 53,238 55,105 59,928 Dumfries and Galloway 50,535 74,290 71,220 68,292 66,413 67,677 Fife 116,263 167,285 171,475 170,690 170,247 179,698 Forth Valley 84,505 129,146 133,441 131,571 132,150 138,774 Grampian 175,734 246,479 259,362 260,173 256,628 268,019 Greater Glasgow 296,476 458,557 474,592 464,351 460,515 477,183 Highland 69,124 102,894 99,161 92,670 88,370 91,717 Lanarkshire 150,452 233,418 242,743 240,001 241,947 249,745 Lothian 252,816 374,659 389,764 385,702 386,419 403,134 Orkney 3,535 5,525 7,267 7,961 5,547 6,326 Shetland 4,710 7,034 7,004 7,823 7,907 7,913 Tayside 146,881 207,270 216,441 217,565 217,007 228,584 Western Isles 4,574 8,294 8,511 8,756 9,087 10,643 1Registration of patients with a dentist was introduced in October 1990.