MSP's CONCERN FOR PATCHY DENTAL PROVISION ACROSS THE SOUTH OF SCOTLAND

Published on Fri 16th Jul 2010

Jim Hume, Liberal Democrat MSP for the South of Scotland, has revealed that some health boards in Scotland are scraping by on around 49 dentists per 100,000 people.

Mr Hume has discovered that Dumfries and Galloway in the South of Scotland has only 48.5 dentists per 100,000 people; Lanarkshire is slightly better at 51.8 dentists per 100, 000 people; whilst the Borders is better still at 55.9 dentists per 100,000 people.

Jim Hume said:

"For all the trumpeting the SNP do about record numbers of dentists in Scotland, these figures show that some health boards in Scotland are scraping by on around 49 dentists per 100,000.

"This picture however is not countrywide. For example, one health authority has 75 dentists per 100,000 people and another has 126. This does not represent a fair distribution of NHS dental provision.

"Good dental health is vital for a healthy lifestyle. People who have difficulty accessing a dentist are being put at risk of developing problems with their teeth and gums which in turn can lead to other negative health implications.

"The Government must do something about the lack of dentists in parts of the South of Scotland to ensure that everyone has a fair and equal opportunity to access to a dentist."

ENDS

Notes to editors.

A copy of the parliamentary Question, from which the figures were derived, is shown below.

Dentists

S3W-34685 - Mike Rumbles (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (LD) (Date Lodged Monday, June 21, 2010): To ask the Scottish Executive how many NHS dentists there were per head of population, broken down by (a) NHS board and (b) local authority area in each of the last three years for which figures are available.

Answered by Shona Robison (Monday, July 12, 2010): Information showing the number of NHS dentists (headcount) who provided NHS general dental services per head of population by NHS board for the years 2008 to 2010 are presented in the table.

Published data for NHS General Dental Service Dentists by local authority area can be found at http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/5898.html.

NHS General Dental Service Dentists per Head of Population by NHS Board

NHS Board Area Headcount1 Population, estimated NHS GDS dentists

Data at 31st March Data at 30th June Per 100,000 population

2008 2009 2010 2007 2008 2009 2008 2009 2010

Ayrshire and Arran 179 189 199 367,020 367,510 367,160 48.8 51.4 54.2

Borders 52 55 63 111,430 112,430 112,680 46.7 48.9 55.9

Dumfries and Galloway 70 71 72 148,300 148,580 148,510 47.2 47.8 48.5

Fife 178 198 209 360,428 361,815 363,385 49.4 54.7 57.5

Forth Valley 133 154 171 288,473 290,047 291,383 46.1 53.1 58.7

Grampian 232 252 266 535,290 539,630 544,980 43.3 46.7 48.8

Greater Glasgow and Clyde 685 715 717 1,192,419 1,194,675 1,199,026 57.4 59.8 59.8

Highland 177 184 195 308,790 309,900 310,530 57.3 59.4 62.8

Lanarkshire 257 269 291 560,042 561,174 562,215 45.9 47.9 51.8

Lothian 445 471 480 809,764 817,727 826,231 55.0 57.6 58.1

Orkney 12 17 15 19,860 19,890 19,960 60.4 85.5 75.2

Shetland 18 25 28 21,950 21,980 22,210 82.0 113.7 126.1

Tayside 224 245 250 394,134 396,942 399,550 56.8 61.7 62.6

Western Isles 15 18 17 26,300 26,200 26,180 57.0 68.7 64.9

Scotland 2,576 2,739 2,847 5,144,200 5,168,500 5,194,000 50.1 53.0 54.8

Sources: Information Services Division, National Services Scotland.

General Register Office for Scotland.

Note.

1 A dentist is counted once for each NHS board where he/she has an arrangement to provide general dental services. As a result the sum of the number of dentists in each NHS board area will exceed the number of dentists in Scotland (where a dentist is only counted once).