From premieroneuk:
There are no doubts whatsoever Westminster is cleverly attempting to prevent us making proper statistical comparisons between NHS Scotland and the rest of the UK.
If you log on to NHS SCOT covid 19, all key stats are found in a instant whereas if you go to NHS England then you get lost quickly.
If you go to UK GOV, you can find the daily updates but today none on tests.
If you use the key statistical factor of number of deaths/cases and tests per million population some very interesting figures reveal themselves and clearly point you in the direction that although it’s early days in this pandemic, in key areas Scotland is out-performing the rest of UK as follows:
Scotland Rest of UK
- CASES/ Million. 959. 1064
- Deaths/Million. 90. 135
- Tests/Million. 5003. 3900
And the figures for Scotland are inclusive of numbers outwith hospitals while those for the rest of UK are not. So the figures are even more dramatic in reality whereby Scotland seriously is out performing rest of UK. In main this is due to the main factors below:
1 Scotland was far more prepared.
2 Scotland effectively was faster going into lock down.
3 Scotland very quickly and efficiently adopted far better communication systems c/w a excellent central command and control set up and having all relevant areas fully joined up.
4 Given 3 above and with regard to tests and PPE, this enabled us to produce a far more effective response.
All of the above derives from:
a) Leadership and delegation
b) Correct Attitude
c) Efficient monitoring and rapid change to any errors or action where improvements were required
Westminster is in a shambles and they are on the back foot regards covid 19 and they are doing their utmost to prevent us finding them out and more importantly attempting to hide Scotland’s efficiency.
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
I see there is talk about possibly 1000 deaths in English care homes not being recorded – is this not likely to be much, much more?
At least one article in the Guardian mentioned that Scotland is including care home deaths while England and Wales are not (the article didn’t make clear whether NI deaths include them or not).
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A very important factor in NHS Scotland’s management of data stems from the fact that NHS(S), following devolution, rejected the Tories’ concept of separate hospital trusts within an internal market. Instead, regional management is exercised by the regional Health Boards, with the acute hospitals operating as a discrete division; likewise for Primary Care functions. This makes accumulation of regional data and then Scotland-wide total data simple, just as it is easier to ensure that all data are prepared in a uniform fashion in all regions, which in turn makes the Scottish data more reliable.
On the other hand NHS (E) is still organised as a myriad of Acute and Primary Care Trusts, so enforcing uniformity of data collection is more difficult, as is the aggregation of data for all-England.
The structure of NHS(S) also helps with uniformity of A&E data since we have a National A&E computer system, which ensures uniformity of data and enables greater staff flexibility when a local crisis arises, whereas the dispersed nature of Acute Trusts in England, with a wide variety of computer systems is much less likely to collect uniform data. This is before we consider their fudging practices of including minor injury etc units (which generally have shorter episode times) to raise their performance figures and starting the clock for patient episodes only after a consultant logs on to treat the patient. In other words they omit the waiting times between registration and triage and between triage and the consultant logging on, whereas in Scotland the clock starts at initial registration and stops when the patient is discharged or transferred to another department/ward.
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Richard North, who blogs as EUreferendum has a piece today on what might be inferred from thei nformation provided at press briefings. It is not optimistic.
“Actually, even these figures – from a statistical viewpoint – have the potential to mislead. There are strong indications (more than just mere rumours) that elderly people (and especially those in care homes), who were treated in hospital in the early stages of the epidemic, are now being refused admission.
There are even some reports (unsubstantiated) that local GPs have been refusing to attend care homes where Covid-19 is reported (or suspected), without which some patients are not referred on to hospitals.”
http://eureferendum.com/
That said, a few seconds searching reaches a page of the Office of National Statistics which provide information on covid 19 and willsend this toyour mailbox so journalists of all kinds can be better informed.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/deathsregisteredweeklyinenglandandwalesprovisional/weekending27march2020
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases?hootPostID=3e26bba90bd0a0962c092a6c6993e90a
There is a piece in the Irish Times today that looks at how Ireland is dealing with covid 19. The strengths and weaknesses of its approach are identified with some comparisons with different countries.
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/better-coronavirus-testing-key-to-society-returning-to-some-kind-of-normality-1.4226181
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I’m following this young H&I uni student which gives more in depth reporting https://www.travellingtabby.com/scotland-coronavirus-tracker/
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