- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 March 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 4 April 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the appropriate level of chiropody and podiatry services which should be commissioned by each Primary Care NHS Trust.
Answer
Chiropody and podiatry services are part of the range of services provided by Primary Care NHS Trusts. It is for the NHS locally to make an assessment of the needs of the local population.
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 March 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 4 April 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it plans to provide regarding the appropriate level of chiropody and podiatry services which should be commissioned by each Primary Care NHS Trust.
Answer
There are no plans to publish guidance of this nature. It is for the NHS locally to determine the range and level of services to be provided.
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 March 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 4 April 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people consulted a chiropodist and/or a podiatrist in each of the last five years for which figures are available, expressed also as a percentage of the population.
Answer
The following table shows the total number of patients treated by chiropodists and podiatrists over the five-year period 1996 to 2000. Number of Treatments by Chiropodists and Podiatrists in the NHS
| Year | Number of Treatments |
| 1996 | 467,044 |
| 1997 | 472,820 |
| 1998 | 480,161 |
| 1999 | 494,133 |
| 2000 | 485,959 |
The figures need to be interpreted with some care. They are based on the number of courses of treatment provided to patients. Some patients will receive more than one course of treatment during the year, and therefore the number of people receiving chiropody or podiatry treatment will be less than the total number of treatments provided. It is not possible to identify the number of patients who receive more than one course of chiropody or podiatry treatment, and therefore we cannot estimate the number and percentage of people in the population who have seen a chiropodist or podiatrist.
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 March 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 4 April 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what evidence it has of any local and regional variations in the provision of chiropody and podiatry treatment by the NHS.
Answer
The Information and Statistics Division (ISD) of the Common Services Agency, NHSScotland has published a Health Briefing (2001): Community Chiropody Services which presents information on community chiropody and podiatry services in Scotland between 1990-99. The information relates to the number of patients treated, the number of treatments provided, place of treatment and chiropody staffing levels. Further statistical information on the provision of chiropody services is available from the ISD website.
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 March 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 4 April 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Minister for Health and Community Care will make a ministerial statement on any local and/or regional variations in the provision of chiropody and podiatry treatment by the NHS.
Answer
No such statement is planned.
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 March 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 4 April 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many chiropodists and podiatrists were employed in the NHS in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
Answer
Information on the number of chiropodists directly employed by NHSScotland is shown in the following table.
| Chiropodists1 directly employed by NHSScotland |
| Headcount and Whole Time Equivalent at 30 September |
| | Headcount | WTE |
| 1996 | 680 | 595.8 |
| 1997 | 699 | 606.9 |
| 1998 | 701 | 608.9 |
| 1999 | 735 | 633.0 |
| 2000 | 741 | 634.7 |
Source: National Manpower Statistics from payroll ISD Scotland.Note:1. Comprises qualified staff only and includes podiatrists.
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 March 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 4 April 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it monitors, or plans to monitor, the level of patients' satisfaction with the NHS's chiropody and podiatry services.
Answer
The information requested is not collected centrally. However, as Patient Focus, Public Involvement which was published in December of last year states, feedback on the services the NHS provides should be solicited in a range of ways. A well-targeted survey can provide useful data on specific elements of service user experience. Guidance on the use of surveys in the NHS, based on research carried out in conjunction with the Scottish Consumer Council, will be published shortly. This guidance will be supplemented by information on alternative ways of soliciting feedback from service users.
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 March 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 4 April 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to issue guidance regarding the minimum level of chiropody and podiatry services which should be available to patients from the NHS.
Answer
There are no such plans. It is for the NHS locally to determine the range and level of service provision in accordance with the needs of the population, and national and local priorities.
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 March 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 4 April 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the implications for the provision of chiropody and podiatry services in the NHS following the publication of the guidelines relating to the Scottish Diabetes Framework.
Answer
The Scottish Diabetes Group, the recently established national steering group for the implementation of the Scottish Diabetes Framework, will be taking forward work in relation to diabetic foot care. One of the action points of Scottish Diabetes Framework is to commission (by January 2003) a workforce study of diabetes services in hospitals and the community.
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 March 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 4 April 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) new courses of podiatry and chiropody treatment were started and (b) individual podiatry patients were treated in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board area.
Answer
The number of courses of chiropody and podiatry treatment provided to patients in each Health board area between 1996 and 2000 are shown in the following table. Number of Treatments Provided by Chiropodists and Podiatrists in the NHS
| | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 |
| Argyll and Clyde | 53,949 | 63,034 | 66,266 | 74,087 | 64,960 |
| Ayrshire and Arran | 40,824 | 41,134 | 43,179 | 45,074 | 46,188 |
| Borders | 10,590 | 10,308 | 11,457 | 12,322 | 11,655 |
| Dumfries and Galloway | 13,019 | 13,419 | 13,433 | 13,750 | 13,658 |
| Fife | 32,648 | 29,110 | 28,196 | 36,272 | 37,065 |
| Forth Valley | 24,439 | 23,156 | 23,157 | 23,740 | 24,930 |
| Grampian | 39,411 | 42,109 | 41,853 | 43,335 | 40,936 |
| Greater Glasgow | 66,581 | 66,011 | 67,155 | 69,789 | 75,244 |
| Highland | 15,964 | 16,340 | 16,483 | 14,784 | 14,291 |
| Lanarkshire | 48,890 | 51,329 | 48,427 | 42,103 | 44,376 |
| Lothian | 75,892 | 71,939 | 70,074 | 69,665 | 69,569 |
| Orkney | 2,224 | 2,207 | 2,321 | 2,569 | 2,282 |
| Shetland | 2,386 | 2,711 | 2,906 | 2,854 | 2,983 |
| Tayside | 36,218 | 36,121 | 41,323 | 39,734 | 34,389 |
| Western Isles | 4,009 | 3,892 | 3,931 | 4,055 | 3,433 |
| Scotland | 467,044 | 472,820 | 480,161 | 494,133 | 485,959 |
It is not possible to identify the number of patients who are treated by a chiropodist or podiatrist. Some patients will receive more than one course of treatment, and therefore the number of patients receiving treatment during a year is likely to be less than the number of treatments provided.
