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2008 Survey results 
ISD would like to thank all respondents to its 2008 annual survey. Initial results are presented here and an action plan which indicates how we intend to address the issues raised is being worked on and will be published in due course.
ISD Conference - Joined-up care
A report on the ISD Conference - Joined-up care has now been published on this site.
60 years of NHS Scotland
A website has been created to celebrate 60 years of the NHS in Scotland.
Information Services Division
Scotland has some of the best health service data in the world. Few other countries have information which combines high quality data, consistency, national coverage and the ability to link data to allow patient based analysis and follow up. Information Services Division (ISD) is Scotland's national organisation for health information, statistics and IT services. An introduction to the many important roles we play in Scotland's Health Care can be found in the About ISD section.
ISD is part of NHS National Services Scotland 
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Register for updates
We have a wide range of newsletters, bulletins and other services to choose from.
Media Monitoring
This provides twice daily updates on health related stories being reported in the Scottish media.
We also specially monitor the use of our own data in the news:
ISD in the news
The new Scottish
Public Health Observatory (ScotPHO) is another major web resource
that has been developed by ISD Scotland in collaboration with NHS
Health Scotland and other key national organisations. The website
aims to provide access to clear and relevant public health information
and statistics in order to support decision making.
Latest Statistics
18 December 2008
ISD Customer Survey 2008
ISD would like to thank all respondents to its 2008 annual survey. Initial results are presented here and an action plan which indicates how we intend to address the issues raised is being worked on and will be published in due course.
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16 December 2008
NHSScotland Workforce Statistics 2008
The release includes information on staff in post across all NHS staff groups as well as vacancy information for Nursing & Midwifery and Allied Health Professions as at 30th September 2008. Information on Community & Hospital Medical and Dental staff and staff employed in the General Medical Service (GPs) and General Dental Service (GDS) as at 30th September is also included.
The number of staff employed in NHSScotland as at 30th September 2008 was 165,551 (headcount). Nursing & midwifery staff account for 40.9% of all staff (headcount) employed in NHSScotland.
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16 December 2008
Healthy life expectancy
Life expectancy (LE) is an estimate of how many years a person might be expected to live. Healthy life expectancy (HLE) is an estimate of how many years they might live in ‘good’ health. This publication shows that:
- Both LE and HLE are lower (worse) in Scotland than in the UK as a whole.
- Both LE and HLE at birth in Scotland have improved over recent years, but the gap between them (the years expected to be spent in ‘not good’ health) has also increased.
- There are considerable variations in LE and HLE in Scotland between males and females and among different geographical and socio-economic groups.
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16 December 2008
Childhood obesity : Primary 1 statistics for school year 2007/08
Update of annual statistics on high and low body mass index (BMI) for Primary 1 school children in ten participating NHS Boards in Scotland. The release includes data to school year 2007/08.
- In 2007/08, among the ten participating NHS Boards, 20.0% of Primary 1 children were classified as overweight, including 7.9% obese and 3.9% severely obese.
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16 December 2008
Childhood immunisation uptake rates for quarter ending 30 September 2008
Quarterly update of immunisation uptake rates for children aged 12 and 24 months and 5 and 6 years. Includes data to 30 September 2008.
- Uptake of one dose of MMR by 5 years of age has increased and now exceeds the 95% target for the first time since reporting began in December 2006.
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16 December 2008
Child Health Statistics : Support Needs System Annual Summary Statistics 2008
The Support Needs System (SNS) is an electronic system holding data relating to children and young people (up to 19 years of age) with additional support needs. Its purpose is to monitor their progress and ensure they have access to the services or support they require. These SNS summary statistics provide information for participating Boards, and represent a “snap-shot” of information held on the system as at September 2008.
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16 December 2008
Drug Misuse Statistics Scotland 2008
This annual publication presents the latest available information from a range of national data sources relevant to drug misuse. This year there are three main sections: Services and treatment for drug misuse, Health impact of drug misuse and Drugs and criminal justice.
Key points include:
- In 2007/08, 12,562 ‘new’ individuals were reported to the Scottish Drugs Misuse database (SDMD). This corresponds to a rate of 259 per 100,000 of the Scottish population.
- Of those reporting illicit drug use to the Scottish Drug Misuse Database, 69% reported using heroin (7,047 individuals).
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16 December 2008
Drug Treatment Waiting Times Information Framework Report
July-September 2008
Data is presented for July-September 2008 on the number of clients waiting for drug treatment and the time waited for (1) clients to be offered an assessment date and (2) clients to be offered an appointment date for any drug treatment intervention.
The publication shows that in July-September 2008
- Approximately 70% of those offered an appointment for assessment were offered a date within 14 days of referral (Table 1).
- Approximately 90% of those offered an appointment for treatment were offered a date within 14 days of date care plan agreed. (Table 2).
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16 December 2008
Medicines used in Mental Health
Update to annual prescribing statistics showing the number and cost of prescriptions for medicines used in the treatment of mental illness in Scotland. Hospital dispensed medicines are not included. Some key points include:
- The prescribing of hypnotics, anxiolytics and barbiturates declined slightly by 0.3% between 2006/07 and 2007/08.
- The volume of medicines indicated for depression rose by 4.7% between 2006/07 and 2007/08. It is estimated that 9.3% of the Scottish population aged 15 and over make daily use of an antidepressant drug.
- The volume of medicines indicated for psychoses and related disorders rose by 3.4% between 2006/07 and 2007/08.
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16 December 2008
Quarterly update of reimbursement and remuneration paid to dispensing contractors, up to September 2008
Released today is a quarterly update of reimbursement and remuneration paid to dispensing contractors, e.g. pharmacists, for financial year 2008/09 and calendar year 2008, up to September 2008. The information is aimed at those with an understanding of payments made to dispensing contractors.
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16 December 2008
Unintentional Injuries in year ending 31 March 2008
Unintentional injury is one of the main causes of death and is one of the common causes of emergency hospital admissions in children. Unintentional injuries are also a common cause for emergency hospital admissions among adults. In 2007/08, unintentional injuries accounted for approximately 1 in 6 emergency hospital admissions for children and 1 in 9 for adults. The number of emergency admissions to hospital as a result of unintentional injury has decreased by over 6% over the period 1999/00 to 2007/08.
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16 December 2008
Delayed Discharges in NHSScotland - Supplementary Information by Community Health Partnership from October 2008 census
Figures from the October 2008 Delayed Discharges quarterly census are now available by Community Health Partnership. Headline figures and information at NHS Board and Local Authority level were previously published on 25 November 2008.
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16 December 2008
Health and Wellbeing Profiles for Community Health Partnership (CHP) Areas, 2008 - data files
Following publication in June 2008 of individual area profiles for CHPs and a 'Scotland Overview', this release provides access to Excel data files for a range of geographies (Scotland, NHS boards, CHPs, intermediate geography zones and locally defined areas) for the same set of health profile indicators.
This December 2008 release is a supplement to the June 2008 publications. It contains data published in June 2008, plus access for the first time to all of the indicator data at sub-CHP level.
Key findings from the June 2008 profiles publications (CHP-level findings) included the following:
- Male life expectancy ranged from 67.9 years to 77.3 years, whilst female life expectancy ranged from 75.1 years to 81.2 years.
- The number of people admitted to hospital annually with alcohol related and attributable problems ranged from 521 to 1,505 per 100,000 people.
- The number of people admitted to hospital annually with heart disease ranged from 501 to 1,010 per 100,000 people.
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16 December 2008
Workforce Planning for Psychology Services in NHS Scotland: Characteristics of the Workforce Supply in 2008
This release is a collaborative piece of work between ISD and NHS Education for Scotland, and presents NHSScotland psychology services workforce information as at 30th September 2008.
In total there were 581.9 wte Clinical&Other Applied Psychologists employed in NHSScotland at 30th September 2008. This is an increase of 11% Clinical&Other Applied Psychologists compared to 30th September 2007.
Previous years have also seen an increase in staffing, (2006-2007: 10%; 2005-2006: 8%). The increases reflect the expansion of training capacity for the 3-year doctoral Clinical Psychology course and the strong retention rates of course completers in NHSScotland psychology workforce.
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16 December 2008
Preparing for a new Resource Allocation formula in Scotland
This publication shows the results of the preparatory work for implementation of the new formula recommended by the NHSScotland Resource Allocation Committee (NRAC). This allows NHS Boards to assess the target shares of the unified budgets, prior to the implementation of the new formula in line for the 2009/10 allocations.
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10 December 2008
Scottish Audit of Surgical Mortality Annual report on 2007 data
The SASM Annual Report is published today and is based on the views and recommendations from the SASM Board and Management Committee.
SASM calls for investigation into falling post mortem numbers
SASM is also announcing plans to strengthen its role in helping to improve the safety of surgery and the care of surgeons by introducing analysis of local reporting of surgical deaths, and a sub-audit of findings from the latest national report in order to carry out more detailed investigation of the findings.
For older releases see the Latest Releases and Archive pages.