Chamber and committees

SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT

WRITTEN ANSWER

19 July 2013

Index Heading: Health and Social Care

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Scottish Labour): To ask the Scottish Government how many dental practices there are and how many are (a) funded by the NHS and (b) wholly private.

(S4W-16109)

Michael Matheson: There are 1,064 dental practices in Scotland which have at least one dentist providing NHS general dental services.

Information on the number of wholly private dental practices is not held centrally.

Source: ISD Scotland.

The dental services budget for each of the years in question is provided in the table below and is also published on the Scottish Government website at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/Finance/18127/Documents.

Note: This figure is made up of the General Dental Services and Oral Health Measures budgets.

The number of deaths from cancer of the oral cavity and the mortality rate per 100,000 population for calendar years 2007-2011 is provided in the following table. Cancer mortality data is not currently available beyond 2011.

Number of deaths¹ from cancer of the oral cavity², Scotland, 2007-2011

Source: ISD Scotland.

Notes:

1. Deaths data are provided by the National Records for Scotland. Deaths are for year of registration.

2. Cancer of the oral cavity is defined as C01-C06 in the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Edition.

The following table provides the prevalence of oral cavity cancer between 2001 to 2011 and shows a steady increase over the period. Cancer registration data is not currently available beyond 2011.

Table 1. Prevalence¹ of Cancer of the oral cavity² in Scotland, 2001-2011

Source: ISD Scotland.

Notes:

1. Prevalence is estimated by counting the number of patients diagnosed before a given point in time (e.g. 31 December 2011), and excluding those who are known to have died or migrated by that date. 2. Prevalence numbers are based on a 20 year period.

Cancer of the oral cavity is defined as C01-C06 in the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Edition.

This information is not held centrally. The individual Scottish medical schools will have access to this information if contacted directly. A list of the UK’s medical schools can be found on the Medical Schools Council’s website at:

http://www.medschools.ac.uk/Students/UKMedicalSchools/MedicalSchoolsbyRegion/Pages/Scotland.aspx.

Universities are autonomous institutions with responsibility for managing their own staff. This is therefore not a matter for Scottish Ministers.

As autonomous institutions, universities are responsible for setting their own course provision and managing their own staff levels. This is therefore not a matter for Scottish Ministers.

Childsmile is aimed at every child in Scotland through Childsmile Core and Childsmile Practice from birth until age five years.

Children living in our most deprived communities will receive additional benefit from Childsmile Nursery and Childsmile School at least up to Primary 4.

The Scottish Government mapped the location of dental practices in Scotland as part of a review carried out in 2010. The review “An Analysis of the Dental Workforce in Scotland” can be found at:

http://www.nes.scot.nhs.uk/media/279142/analysis_of_dental_workforce_in_scotland_strategic_review_2010.pdf

This measured on a national basis the average travelling distances to practices rather than concentration of practitioners. This showed that people living in the most deprived areas were amongst the groups with greater access but more detailed information would be analysed at health board level, where responsibility for the overall provision rests of NHS general dental services in an area.

It is for boards to identify any gaps in provision and determine the best solutions to meet local needs. To help boards improve access to general dental services in their area, the Scottish Government has made available a range of measures, including the Scottish Dental Access Initiative.