Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD / Child Smile)

These codes would have been imported in to your system along with Child Smile codes. and will be part of the fee schedule that get imported through payors. Should be no need to add these codes manually.

If you require any further information regarding Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation please contact the Dental Board.

What is SIMD?

The Scottish index of multiple deprivation (SIMD) is a statistical tool used by local authorities, the Scottish government, the NHS and other government bodies in Scotland to support policy and decision making.

The Scottish index of multiple deprivation measures across seven domains: current income, employment, health, education, geographic access & crime, skills & training and housing. These seven domains are calculated and weighted for 6,976 small areas, called ‘data zones’, with roughly equal population. With the population total at 5,3 million that comes to an average population of 760 people per data zone

SIMD and NHS Dentistry

In Scotland when treating children they have a section of the SDR and specific codes in relation to treating children who live in deprived area. SIMD codes apply to children that live in areas with a decile from 1-5 (with one being the most deprived and 5 being the least). Please note that deciles are measured from 1-10 but children with a postcode from 6-10 are not covered by this policy.

Within Section X –Treatment under Capitation of the SDR (pg 40-44) you can find the codes that the dentists need to chart in relation to carrying out SIMD/Childsmile treatment and the codes are dependent on the decile that the patient falls into (dependent on postcode). SIMD works in two groups - a code for children who are under decile 1-3 and a separate code for children in decile 4+5.

SIMD in EXACT

Exact doesn’t currently have a built in functionality to find the patients decile by postcode. Dentists will need to use the link below in order to find out which decile the patient falls into:

SIMD (Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation)

In order to make it a little easier for practices and so that they can easily recognise which codes they should be using rather than having to search a patients history for the previously charted code or search for the patients decile again on the NHS website you can do the following:

1. Set up the following options in either type 1 or type 2

Set patient triggers with the queries below to colour the toolbar as a mix between their NHS colour and one to identify between the two decile groups for child smile – for practices I have set up I have used red for 1-3 and green for 4+5. (I have attached the contact list queries to this email for ease)

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