Chamber and committees

Centrally held information is available for (i) NHS General Dental Services (GDS) and (ii) the Hospital Dental Service. Information is not centrally available for the Community Dental Service.

Table 1 shows, by NHS board, the number of patients who had teeth extracted in the GDS setting in 2008-09.

Table 2 shows, by NHS board, the number of patients who had a tooth extraction procedure carried out in the Hospital Dental Service setting in 2008-09.

Table 1

Number of Patients who had Teeth Extracted in the NHS General Dental Services Setting in 2008-09

NHS Board	Patient age
	0 - 4 Years	5 - 18 Years	Over 18
Scotland	582	56,034	237,087
Ayrshire and Arran	50	4,843	20,262
Borders	10	926	4,652
Dumfries and Galloway	10	1,428	6,201
Fife	39	3,328	15,720
Forth Valley	33	2,997	13,186
Grampian	27	4,465	15,723
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	190	16,097	63,934
Highland	38	2,742	10,653
Lanarkshire	111	7,141	28,850
Lothian	54	7,677	36,430
Orkney	-	133	646
Shetland	2	238	917
Tayside	18	3,858	18,404
Western Isles	-	161	1,509

Source: MIDAS (Management Information and Dental Accounting System)

Notes:

1. This data relates to dental treatment carried out under NHS General Dental Service arrangements and excludes the Community Dental Service, Hospital Dental Service and private dental treatment.

2. The data above relates to the number of individual patients who had teeth extracted, not the number of teeth extracted.

3. Extractions (for children in particular) will include those required for orthodontic diagnosis rather than those due to decay. It is not possible to distinguish between orthodontic and non-orthodontic extractions.

4. Data accuracy is dependent on MIDAS data quality and may be affected by errors at source such as data entry, coding and scanning inaccuracies.

5. NHS board is based on the dental practice postcode.

Table 2

Number of Patients who had a Tooth Extraction Procedure Carried out in the Hospital Dental Service Setting in 2008-09

NHS Board	Patient Age
	0 - 4 years	5 - 18 years	Over 18
Scotland	1,876	6,134	4,663
Ayrshire and Arran	221	544	118
Borders	30	173	148
Dumfries and Galloway	41	257	789
Fife	9	107	667
Forth Valley	24	150	374
Grampian	33	346	603
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	490	1,396	620
Highland	114	525	372
Lanarkshire	345	838	186
Lothian	366	1,022	202
Orkney	3	39	54
Shetland	7	41	89
Tayside	183	661	378
Western Isles	3	14	25

Source: SMR01.

Notes:

1. These statistics are derived from data collected on discharges from non-obstetric and non-psychiatric specialties (SMR01) in Scotland.

2. For Hospital Dental Services, tooth extraction is defined as OPCS4: F09 (surgical removal of tooth) or F10 (simple extraction of tooth). SMR01 can capture up to four operations in each discharge summary; data in the table are based on the presence of a relevant OPCS4 code in the discharge summary, regardless of primary/secondary operation.

3. These statistics are a count of patients undergoing a tooth extraction procedure, not a count of teeth extracted.

4. NHS board is based on the patient''s postcode.

According to the most recent staff survey published by the Information Services Division (ISD) of NHS National Services Scotland, there were 17 Epilepsy Specialist Nurses (ESNs) in post in NHSScotland at 30 September 2009.

The Joint Epilepsy Council recommends a target of 1 ESN per 100,000 population, which would give a figure of some 50 ESNs for Scotland.

The Scottish Government will be working with Scottish Enterprise who will be undertaking the necessary environmental assessment work including screening, to identify the need for an appropriate assessment of the developing National Renewables Infrastructure Plan, should it have any likely significant effects on Natura 2000 sites.

There have been a number of meetings with Scottish Enterprise in recent months by Scottish Government Ministers and officials on the development of the National Renewables Infrastructure Plan. Officials from the Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise met on Tuesday 9 February 2010 to specifically discuss the provisions of the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005 and how they may apply to the developing National Renewables Infrastructure Plan.

The Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise are in ongoing discussion on a suitable approach to any assessment which may be required under the habitats regulations.

Officials from the Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise have discussed the matter and do consider the National Renewables Infrastructure Plan to be a qualifying plan under the terms of the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005. An assessment of the plan, as per the requirements of the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005 will be progressed in line with preparation of Stage 2 of the National Renewables Infrastructure Plan.

Most patients referred by their GP to a specialist for epilepsy will be referred to a neurology consultant. The median waiting time for a first outpatient neurology consultation following a GP referral for the year ending 31 December 2009 by NHS board of treatment is provided in the following table.

NHS Board of Treatment*	Median Wait(Days)
Ayrshire and Arran	60
Borders	60
Dumfries and Galloway	40
Fife	53
Forth Valley	73
Grampian	52
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	55
Highland	56
Lanarkshire	81
Lothian	44
Orkney	60
Tayside	56
Western Isles	53
NHSScotland	56

Source: ISD Scotland, New Ways Data Warehouse.

Notes: *Neurology services are not provided by NHS Shetland. Patients on the island requiring this services will be referred to another board.

Most patients with epilepsy have their treatment in a primary care setting. Those who require to be referred or treated in a hospital setting will be covered by our current targets of 12 weeks for both a first outpatient consultation and for inpatient and day case treatment. NHSScotland has effectively delivered both these targets since the end of March 2009 “ a year ahead of schedule.

The Scottish Government has set NHSScotland a challenging whole journey waiting time target from referral to treatment of 18 weeks by the end of December 2011.

Information on staff in post in NHSScotland is published annually by National Services Scotland, Information Services Division (ISD) Scotland, as part of the workforce census as at 30 September each year. Data for clinical nurse specialists by specialty, NHS region and NHS board is available at http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/5352.html - cns.

All local authorities were aware of the fact that this was a trial and was not meant to be a long-term arrangement, investments were made on this understanding. Scottish Government continues to work with COSLA and local authorities to identify how best to roll-out food waste collections based on local circumstances and needs. Scottish Government is aware that some local authorities have already implemented food waste collections with others planning to do so. Of the six trial authorities five are still continuing to provide a food waste collection service.