General Practice List Size
Data indicates patients registered with practices by Health Board and Local Authority as at 1 October for each year presented.
Data
General Practice List Size
Description
Note: This dataset will not be receiving updates through this portal. Please refer to the Public Health Scotland Open Data platform for the relevant data.
Data indicates patients registered with practices by Health Board and Local Authority as at 1 October for each year presented.
Since the introduction of the new GP contract (the General Medical Services contract) on 1 April 2004, patients register with a practice rather than a specific GP.
GPs and practices have been allocated to one area based on the postcode of the main practice premises. However, practices may also operate branch surgeries from other locations and these locations may sit within a different area to that of the main practice premises. Practices in one area may provide care for patients living in another area. This is particularly likely where practices are located close to a boundary between areas, and/or where a practice operates one or more branch surgeries.
Data Source for General Practice list sizes: GMS warehouse, Information Services Division, NHS National Services Scotland.
Further information on GP workforce and practice populations in Scotland is available on the ISD Website
Metadata
| Theme | Health and Social Care |
|---|---|
| Organisation | Public Health Scotland |
| License | UK Open Government Licence (OGL) |
| Published | |
| Last updated | |
| Update frequency | annual |
| Reference period | 2007 to 2019 |
| Geographic coverage | Health Board Areas, Council Areas, Country |
| Contact | phs.generalpractice@phs.scot |
Data quality
Completeness
It is the policy of ISD Scotland to make its web sites and products accessible according to published guidelines.
Uniqueness
Not assessed
Consistency
Information on the numbers of general practices and the numbers of patients registered to them is fairly closely comparable with that for other UK countries.
Timeliness
Reports data since 2007, as at 01 October for each year presented.
Validity
Some 90% interactions with the health service are made through primary care. This publication makes information available to the Scottish Government and NHS Boards for planning and provision of primary care services. The data are used by epidemiologists to understand public health trends and by other researchers to understand the relationship of health and healthcare to other factors.
Accuracy
Maintenance of health service records on patients registered to practices is a core administrative function of the NHS and therefore the information on numbers of patients registered to each practice is expected to have a high degree of accuracy.
Quality management
Quality checks are conducted by ISD. Figures are compared to previously published data.
Additional details
Revisions
The data are taken from a dynamic database, with ongoing updating of records. Each year's release includes a refresh of the previous years, and as new information comes to light the numbers may change from those previously published.
In addition, several practices whose health board changed during the 2014 health board boundary changes were recorded against their old health board prior to 2014. These have now been changed to consistently use the 2014 health board boundaries for all years.
Confidentiality policy
The ISD Statistical Disclosure Protocol is followed.