Practice Team Information (PTI) statistics
Practice Team Information (PTI) collects information from a sample of Scottish general practices about face-to-face consultations between patients and a member of the practice team. These consultations may be in the surgery or the patient's home. The practice team is currently defined for PTI purposes as all GPs including locums and registrars (GPs in training), and practice-employed nurses (referred to on these pages as practice nurses but also including, for example, phlebotomists and health care assistants). Additionally, for the three years between 2003/04 and 2005/06 inclusive, community nurses (district nurses and health visitors) also recorded PTI data. Currently there are around 60 practices participating in PTI in Scotland and these are broadly representative of the Scottish population in terms of age, gender, deprivation and urban/rural mix. More information on the background to PTI, how the information is collected and analysed, and the coding used, can be found in our Background to PTI section below.
PTI data are routinely used to provide estimated numbers of patient consultations in general practice for Scotland as a whole. PTI data are also frequently used to estimate the number of consultations for a specific condition, and to estimate the number of patients who consult because of a condition, in any one year in Scotland. PTI estimates of the rate of patients consulting should not be regarded as identical to the population prevalence of a given condition. This is because PTI measures active problems; a lifelong or previous condition will not be recorded unless the patient had a contact with the practice that was directly related to that condition. If, for example, someone with diabetes consults because of a cold and not because of diabetes, their diabetes will not be coded as a reason for consultation.
Quick links
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Glossary
Background to PTI
What is PTI?
How is the information collected?
Uses and limitations of the data
Statistical notes
Note of revisions to published statistics
Grouping clinical codes for condition-specific analysis (RCGs)
Summary statistics on patient consultations in general practice
Below is a list of summary statistics tables and charts from our most recent PTI publication. Further explanation and commentary are given in our full publication report, accessible via our general practice publications page.
Overall patient contacts - total and by staff discipline (Scotland) 
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Overall patient contacts - total and by staff discipline (by practice) [180KB]
Overall Contact rates by age & gender [285KB]
Population pyramid of patients consulting and patients registered [38KB]
Top 10 most common conditions seen in general practice [394KB]
Top 10 most common conditions by age and gender [161KB]
Top 10 most common activities carried out by practice nurses [357KB]
Percentage of practice patients seen, by staff discipline [41KB]
Impact of inclusion of more staff disciplines on patient counts
Statistics on patient consultations in general practice for specific health conditions
Below is a list of tables relating to specific health conditions for which patients can consult general practice clinicians. Unless stated otherwise, these tables are part of our most recent PTI publication, so further explanation and commentary on these figures are given in our full publication report 
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Angina
Estimated numbers of consultations and patients consulting, by gender and age group [96KB]
Estimated numbers of consultations, by staff type [31KB]
Anxiety
Estimated numbers of consultations and patients consulting, by gender and age group [110KB]
Estimated numbers of consultations, by staff type [22KB]
Asthma
Estimated numbers of consultations and patients consulting, by gender and age group [120KB]
Estimated numbers of consultations, by staff type [22KB]
Back pain
Estimated numbers of consultations and patients consulting, by gender and age group [120KB]
Estimated numbers of consultations, by staff type [22KB]
CHD (Coronary Heart Disease)
Estimated numbers of consultations and patients consulting, by gender and age group [100KB]
Estimated numbers of consultations, by staff type [22KB]
COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease)
Estimated numbers of consultations and patients consulting, by gender and age group [100KB]
Estimated numbers of consultations, by staff type [22KB]
Dementia
Estimated numbers of consultations and patients consulting, by gender and age group [90KB]
Estimated numbers of consultations, by staff type [22KB]
Depression
Estimated numbers of consultations and patients consulting, by gender and age group [110KB]
Estimated numbers of consultations, by staff type [22KB]
Diabetes
Estimated numbers of consultations and patients consulting, by gender and age group [110KB]
Estimated numbers of consultations, by staff type [22KB]
Eating disorders
Estimated numbers of consultations and patients consulting, by gender and age group [80KB]
Estimated numbers of consultations, by staff type [22KB]
Epilepsy
Estimated numbers of consultations and patients consulting, by gender and age group [110KB]
Estimated numbers of consultations, by staff type [22KB]
Hypertension
Estimated numbers of consultations and patients consulting, by gender and age group [110KB]
Estimated numbers of consultations, by staff type [22KB]
Hypothyroidism
Estimated numbers of consultations and patients consulting, by gender and age group [100KB]
Estimated numbers of consultations, by staff type [22KB]
Influenza
Estimated numbers of consultations and patients consulting, by gender and age group [100KB]
Estimated numbers of consultations, by staff type [22KB]
Contacts and vaccination uptake 2009/10: released 31 August 2010 (publication discontinued and will not be updated).
Note that much more extensive information on influenza is published regularly by Health Protection Scotland.
Multiple Sclerosis
Estimated numbers of consultations and patients consulting, by gender and age group [90KB]
Estimated numbers of consultations, by staff type [22KB]
Osteoarthritis
Estimated numbers of consultations and patients consulting, by gender and age group [100KB]
Estimated numbers of consultations, by staff type [22KB]
Postnatal depression.
An exploratory analysis was published by NHS Quality Improvement Scotland in the Health Indicators Report 2004 [770KB]
Stroke and TIA (Transient Ischaemic Attack)
Estimated numbers of consultations and patients consulting, by gender and age group [100KB]
Estimated numbers of consultations, by staff type [22KB]
PTI in relation to Quality & Outcomes Framework (QOF) data
How PTI information complements QOF data
Patient consultations for QOF conditions as proportion of overall contacts [27KB]
Examination of co-morbidities using PTI data
