What do we know about the voluntary healthcare sector in Scotland?
OBJECTIVE
To document sources of information available to the National Health Service in Scotland (NHSiS) which relate to the health voluntary sector.


METHODS
Interrogation of the databases of the Charities Register in Scotland (CRIS) and Health Education Board for Scotland (HEBS) for information on health voluntary organisations and a retrospective review of information held on health voluntary organisations recently funded by health boards.


METHODS
National Health Service in Scotland and the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations


RESULTS
Nine hundred and fifty six health voluntary organisations in Scotland were registered with the CRIS database. Five hundred and forty five (57%) of these had annual incomes of less than 100,000 Pounds and two thirds of them (630) operated at a local level. Information on 3,106 health and support organisations was present on the HEBS database. In 1997-98 Scottish Health Boards grant funded 278 voluntary organisations. Eighty seven (31%) of these had information held on the CRIS database and another 87 (31%) with the HEBS database. Funding was much more likely to be given to organisations dealing with adult physical health and alcohol problems. Organisations dealing with specific diseases were less likely to be funded. Of the 87 funded organisations registered with CRIS, health boards typically contributed less than 10% of annual funding.


CONCLUSIONS
Health planning decisions are made difficult by a deficiency of useful information on the existence, activities and financial positions of voluntary organisations. Construction of accurate and comprehensive national databases to inform these decisions would be expensive. However, the development of appropriate local databases by health boards and the voluntary sector would facilitate the development of a constructive partnership.
Coid
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Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Ninewells Hospital and Medical School, Dundee.
Crombie
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D016208:Databases, Factual; D006801:Humans; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012606:Scotland; D013222:State Medicine; D014837:Voluntary Health Agencies / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*