- The number of patients currently registered at the following Shetland GP Health centres;Lerwick, Hillswick, Bixter, Levenwick, Scalloway, Brae, Walls, Yell, Whalsay and Unst.
In accordance with FOISA s 16(1), NHS Shetland confirms that it holds the information requested but that it is exempt from disclosure under FOISA s 25(1) as the information requested is accessible without submitting a request under FOISA s 1(1). The information you have requested is available here:
- Which of the above health centres are currently taking new patient registrations?
All health centres are taking new patient registrations, we do not have closed practice lists.
- The number of patients registered at Lerwick health centre in the last 12 months.
See answer to Q1; we do not keep monthly totals patient registration numbers for earlier periods are available on the website link above.
- The number of patients registered at Lerwick health centre as 'temporary Shetland residents'
We do not hold this information; patients can only be a temporary resident for a maximum of three months and are then either deducted or become permanent, so it is not possible to extract this information
- The number of patients registered at Lerwick Health Centre which are not currently livingwithin the Lerwick health centre's catchment area.
Patients have the right to request to move practice for several reasons and will be considered part of the practice once this move is granted. We therefore do not hold this information.
- Can NHS Shetland please confirm whether it regularly audits its patient registration lists toremove patients who no longer live in the Isles?
If we send out letters to patients which are returned marked as “gone away” or “unknown at this address”, then the patient will be deducted after 30 days and their medical records get returned to Practitioner Services. Likewise, when a patient registers elsewhere with a Practice in Scotland, there will be an automatic deduction from the previous Practice, which triggers the movement of the medical records. We do not have staffing capacity to undertake a patient by patient audit and we do not have access to census information etc.
NHS Shetland is the only territorial Board in Scotland where the total number of individuals on GP lists is marginally below the National Records of Scotland population estimates by local authority area. In respect of Shetland that is 23,000 people. Therefore there is little evidence to suggest that any practice list size is subject to inflation from people no longer living in Shetland.
Please note that the NRS figure for Scotland is 5,490,100 against GP list sizes totalling 6,037,719 as at July 2025.
- Can NHS Shetland confirm whether it helps patients to re-register at the nearest health centre to their home address should they move house? For example, does the health board help to move a patient from Hillswick Health Centre to Lerwick Health Centre following a house move from Northmavine to Lerwick?
As set out above, all practices in Shetland have Open lists. When a patient moves from one part of Shetland to another, they should register at the health centre closest to their home, and we have a local process in place to move medical records between Shetland practices. If anyone has any difficulty registering at a new practice, NHS Shetland will help them to register, but normal process is for patients to register directly with the new practice.
