Agreed.
At first, in Scotland and still in the other three NHS areas of the UK, only deaths in hospital where patients had been shown to be infected prior to death were counted.
At that time, I was reporting shocking death rates in English hospitals of a 3 to 4 times higher level than in Scotland. While accepting that there are many variables involved, I used these figures to argue that they revealed, contrary to the PM’s disgraceful, now ironic, claim that NHS Scotland had issues of resilience going into the outbreak, it was actually performing much better. Again accepting limits to any conclusions, I argued that better staffing levels, cleaner hospitals due to in-house services, less privatisation generally and a more consultative relationship with government, must be playing some part in this.
Recently, only in Scotland, possible coronavirus deaths outside hospital, especially in care homes for the elderly, have been included. Now the death rate in Scotland has worsened to only around half the rate in England. This surge has been popular in our MSM.
So, I agree with the Herald, we should have separate numbers so that we can still measure hospital performance as a percentage of those admitted who die.
On the matter of counting care home deaths, of course we should and, of course, so should the Tory ‘government’ in England. Sadly, the true horror of the situation, caused by their cavalier approach to lock-down, will be revealed.
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
Clearly the BBC Scotland current attack line is on the care service.
There was an interview with Ms Jeanne Freeman, which was framed by a statement that around 40% of Scottish care homes reported cases of residents with Covid-19. Ms Freeman announced that later this week more accurate data on the situation in care homes will be released. The predictable question was: “Will these figures show things are much WORSE?” Ms Freeman replied that the figures were still being prepared and that she was not going to speculate. There was a second occasion in the interview when she was asked to speculate, set in a frame of “Worse”.
She was asked about the care workers pay rise, but this had been trailed by a decontextualised quote from the GMB union that “members were putting their lives on the line for less than £10 per hour” and it was also put to Ms Freeman in this way. She replied that she was always prepared to speak to unions about issues. She pointed out that the usual pay date for the workers is June, but that it had been brought forward and backdated to 1, April.
The interview was challenging but not particularly aggressive.
This was followed by an interview with a care home owner, who was also representing care homes in general. He was asked no challenging questions about his responsibility and duty of care as an employer. He was allowed to make criticism about the ‘postcode lottery’ of delivery of PPE to homes across Scotland, with him emphasising – twice – problems in the west of Scotland. He was allowed to make a statement about testing in homes, again without being asked for evidence. Finally, be described the pay rise as ‘spin’ and that pay was better in England. No question was asked as to what his responsibility was with regard to remuneration.
PS Herald reporter, Caroline Wilson, lives fairly near me. We are not acquainted, but have exchanged emails relating to a local issue which is contentious. These exchanges were very cordial and her subsequent article was very accurate and scrupulously balanced. It was good reporting. However, the sub-editor’s titling conveyed a somewhat different ‘gloss’ to what was actually in the article.
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It turns out that the private care home owner and spokesperson is a major Tory donor and active in pro-union organisations.
I wonder why BBC Scotland gave him such a platform and did not challenge any of his assertions? No, I do not wonder at all.
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Re private care homes…is there any route to ensuring accurate figures are being put forward?
Curious as to the veracity of “care home figures” re Corona virus etc.
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“”So, I agree with the Herald, we should have separate numbers so that we can still measure hospital performance as a percentage of those admitted who die.””
The daily figures are for Covid-19 deaths in hospital. Once per week the figures for deaths in the community, which will include care homes, where Covid-19 has been mentioned on the death Certificate will be announced and added to the overall figures. The community figure, in the absence of testing, will not be accurate but will at least give some indication of the scale. The figures will lag behind the daily hospital figures because they will come after the registration of the deaths and people have 7 days to register the death I believe.
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Additional info from Scot Gov web site
“”Separate to the daily published data above, including those deaths with a laboratory positive result for COVID-19, Wednesday 8 April also sees the first publication by a weekly report by National Records of Scotland on all deaths where COVID-19 was mentioned on the death certificate by the doctor who certified the death. This includes cases where the doctor noted that there was suspected or probable coronavirus infection involved in the death. These weekly statistics will provide valuable information on the spread and impact of COVID-19 across Scotland, will complement the daily statistics produced by HPS and provide a useful comparison with the weekly ONS death statistics.””
https://www.gov.scot/news/additional-covid-19-daily-data-published/
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