Reporting Scotland have been fed another of the single cases they love to present as some kind of wider problem in NHS Scotland. Today we read of one doctor prepared to pay for her two sons to get the HPV jab which protects against throat cancer.
Readers will remember that RSD have a poor record of reporting on vaccines when there is actual hard evidence that NHS Scotland’s performance is high and especially if it’s better than for NHS England. As the immunisation level against the deadly measles virus plummets in England yet stays above target in Scotland BBC UK headlined the story but RSD ignored it. For more on this:
Today’s RSD report also does not mention the performance level in NHS Scotland in delivering the HPV vaccine. Once more you need UK media to get the context:
If I comment on missed targets headlining reports and broadcasts, I’m told RSD cannot/should not suppress important information for the public. If I remind them of their selectivity in not reporting targets which are met, I get either no response or the strange notion that meeting targets is not news.
If I point to the humanitarian disaster that is NHS England under the Tories, I’m told it’s not relevant. I disagree. It’s useful context and so, undaunted, I persist. See the above on the 150 000 backlog in cervical screening faced by women in England. How are things in Scotland, I wonder?
Well, for the start there’s no backlog and the 95% target for returns on only 19 working days is sometimes met and the average looks to be around 23 days:
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
There are a couple of things going on in these reports about ‘health scares’.
Firstly, there are the various professional bodies – psychiatrists, radiographers, nurses, etc – who are seeking increased pay and improved conditions for members. This group also includes particular medical specialisms who are jostling for positions with regard to the allocation of funding grants.
Secondly, there is BBC Scotland News and Current Affairs which is, as we have seen since before 2014, hostile to Scottish independence (since it is an arm of the UK state) and also hostile to public services and redistribution of power.
The BBC is using these ‘professional’ groups and their credibility amongst the population to help sow seeds of discontent about the performance of the SG. And, since they are not daft, the professional bodies are using the BBC and other friends in the media to promote their cases, which as with all such bodies, including trade unions and businesses, are arguing for sectional interests against the general public good.
Of course, it is likely that some amongst the professional bodies are also hostile to independence and redistribution of power and are happy to ride both horses. Similarly, it is likely that there are those within BBC News and Current Affairs, who have family and friends amongst these professional groups and are quite prepared to boost the cause – but not, of course, the cause of the appalling ‘worker’ trade unionists who are holding the country to ransom.
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Absolutely agree .
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