By stewartb
Latest update for the Labour politicians in Scotland who constantly berate the Scottish Government and NHS Scotland on A&E waiting times:
Latest on waits in the main A&E departments in the NHS in Wales – from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (https://rcem.ac.uk/summer-provides-no-respite-for-over-stretched-emergency-departments/ )
1) ’44.1% of patients (more than 2/5) waited four hours or longer (up 10.6% on April 2024)’ – so just 58.6% discharged, transferred or admitted within four hours. The RCEM reports ‘the number of patients having to wait more than four hours has almost doubled since 2017’.
2) ’23.2% (more than 1/5) of people waited more than eight hours (up 0.5% on last month)’ – ‘for eight hour waits it has tripled’
3) ’14.5% of patients (more than 1/7) had to endure waits of more than 12 hours (up 0.3% from April)’ – ‘for the longest waits of 12 hours or more the number of people as gone up four times’.
For comparison, the RCEM reported on performance data for Scotland ’s main emergency departments during April 2024 :
– 64% of patients were treated, discharged or admitted within the target time of four hours (Wales = 58.6%)
– 12.7% of attendees waited more than eight hours (Wales = 23.2%)
– 5.7% of attendees waited more than 12 hours (Wales = 14.5%).
The difference in performance between NHS Wales and NHS Scotland’s emergency departments is marked. To what question is Labour the right, the best answer for Scotland?
Talking-up Scotland / Facts on NHS, Crime, ferries and everything else you can think of 
I didn’t know Baillie had such an important shadow role, yikes! Labour ran down the SNHS during their TEN years at Holyrood, I remember the news about people having to lie on tolleys in corridors. I have said here, before friends working in the SNHS back then were often very unwell and needing time off work(!) with C-Diff because Labour had tendered out SNHS cleaning services to private companies whose staff had no clue about how to clean hospitals.
Labour will destroy the SNHS, it won’t last long on their watch.
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In a recent (June 27) TuS blog post on energy generation statistics for Scotland, ArtyHetty in a btl comment gave a link to an interesting article in the business news website Insider.
It had this headline: ‘BUSINESSES SIGN UP TO UNION CAMPAIGN AGAINST LABOUR NORTH SEA STANCE’. I have yet to see this covered by the mainstream media including the BBC – but you may know differently. Is it not newsworthy?
The Insider article reports: ‘Nearly 200 businesses have SIGNED UP TO A UNION’S CAMPAIGN AGAINST LABOUR’S POLICY of refusing to grant new oil and gas licences in the North Sea. A giant version of Unite’s joint letter will be unveiled in Aberdeen on Thursday as part of their “NO BAN WITHOUT A PLAN” CAMPAIGN.’ (my emphasis)
‘Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Until Labour has a concrete plan for replacing North Sea jobs and ensuring energy security, the ban on new oil and gas exploration licences should not go ahead” and “Labour must not allow oil and gas workers to become this generation’s coal miners. Scotland’s oil and gas communities are crying out for a secure future and that is what Labour must deliver.” Is Unite not a major donor to the Labour Party?
On March 26, 2024, Insider had this headline: ‘LABOUR OIL AND GAS PLANS COULD MAKE UK ‘UNINVESTABLE’ – Energy industry body said investors require ‘stability, predictability and fair returns’
It reports on a press briefing by the UK’s largest offshore energy trade body OEUK (Offshore Energy UK):
‘We have UNCERTAINTY ON FUTURE LICENSING POLICY,” said Ross Dornan, the body’s marketing intelligence manager. “Labour policy, for example, is to end the issuing of new licences in the UK” adding “We’re SEEING TAX CHANGES, with FURTHER TAX CHANGES BEING PROPOSED by Labour if they’re to be elected.”
On more on taxation – ‘with Labour pledges including to not only keep the extension of the windfall tax to 2029 in place but increase the rate from 75% to 78% if it wins the keys to Downing Street – Dornan said: “We’ve seen FOUR TAX REGIMES IN TWO YEARS and we’ve seen FURTHER CHANGES PROPOSED BY LABOUR aimed at increasing the headline rate of tax and cutting allowances.’
These comments came as OEUK issued a report claiming that there could be as much as £450 BILLION OF INVESTMENT IN THE UK’S ENERGY SECTOR UP TO 2040.
On February 19 2024, Insider had this headline: ‘OIL AND GAS BODY TO HOLD ’EMERGENCY SUMMITS’ ON LABOUR WINDFALL TAX PLANS’. It reported: ‘The body representing the offshore oil and gas industry intends to hold what it calls “emergency summits” this week in response to Labour’s plans for a windfall tax on profits.
The Insider article also reported this Labour response to industry concerns: ‘On Sunday, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar was asked about concerns from businesses connected to the North Sea industry. We learn that he told BBC Scotland’s Sunday Show: “I’ve been meeting many of these companies this week to have conversations with them’.
And in his response to all this, Mr Sarwar is quoted saying “… we will have GB Energy, a publicly-owned ENERGY GENERATION COMPANY headquartered in Scotland, that will USE THE POWER OF A UK TREASURY TO LEVERAGE IN UK MONEY, but also private sector money …’. Ah I remember well those days when GB Energy would be ‘generating’ energy in its own right! What is it to be now?
But what is this ‘WILL USE THE POWER OF A UK TREASURY TO LEVERAGE IN UK MONEY , but also private sector money …’ . What ‘leverage’ would a UK Treasury, controlled by an elected UK government, need to deploy and towards whom to ensure public funding for the very same government’s policy? This is nonsense!
Finally, a quote from from an opinion piece written by the Policy Director of the Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce (AGCC) and published February 15 2024 in the industry news journal ‘Energy Voice’. Let’s say, it sets a ‘tone’:
Headline: ‘The Traitors: Back-stabbing TV hit has nothing on Labour – LABOUR HAS DELIVERED ONE OF THE BIGGEST BETRAYALS IN UK INDUSTRIAL HISTORY WITH ITS NORTH SEA POLICY’. See https://www.energyvoice.com/opinion/547861/the-traitors-labour/
One other thing strikes me about all various concerns being expressed by industry and unions about a prospective Labour government’s policies for energy and a ‘just transition’: THEY ALL ARE EFFECTIVELY CONFIRMING THAT IT IS POWER WIELDED IN WESTMINSTER THAT WILL DETERMINE THE FUTURE OF SCOTLAND’S ENERGY INDUSTRIES AND RESOURCES! They all are acknowledging that what determines the nature of the transition to net-zero will be determined by policy made in Westminster, which in turn will be determined by politicians elected by votes cast in England!
The Scottish Government has severely limited agency. Whilst within this Union, Scotland is effectively SPECTATING WHILST England’s chosen government decides the medium to long term future of our country, of Scotland at yet another critical juncture. We should have learned the lesson from the era of North Sea oil & gas abundance: Norway showed us what was feasible.
But here we are in another situation when agency over our future – this time as a renewable energy ‘powerhouse’ – may about to be exchanged for Labour’s bauble of GB Energy and its HQ in Scotland!
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Apologies, should have prefaced the above with ‘Very O/T”!
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leveraged investment is in essence borrowed finance with the debt laid against the asset, not the borrower. In essence this is Scottish ports round 2 where huge amounts of money with never ending debt repayment + interest are paid to the lender, the banks or others, and never ending dividends are paid to the borrower, ” the investor “.
No wonder the media aren’t broadcasting this if it’s the UK government, Anas wouldn’t lie would he?
Golfnut
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A pity the above comments confuse the article on Health statistics. It should be a different article.
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Would you like to share your thoughts on the above article and get us back on track so to speak.
Golfnut
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