In the Herald and to feature on BBC Disclosure, Mr Chris Adams (above) a part-time consultant with Lothian Health Board claims:
Yet, according to Public Health Scotland:
In NHS Lothian, in December 2022, 493 out of 17 269, 2.85% and lower than the average of 2.9% for Scotland, scheduled elective operations were cancelled due to capacity or non-clinical reasons by the hospital. Capacity includes staff availability such as that of theatre nurses and surgeons.
493 out of 17 269 is 1 in 35, somewhat far from Mr Adam’s 1 in 4.
As for staffing shortages, Scotland, in 2019 had 101 consultants per 100 000 population compared to only 86 in England and 81 in Wales. In addition, Scotland had 771 nurses per 100 000 population compared to only 518 in England and 668 in Wales.
Here’s a thought. Might Mr Adam’s busy private consultancy work, £310 for a first consultation, be getting in the way of his NHS work? Two titchy wee hospitals in Edinburgh are listed as the place of work for his private work. Do they have state-of-the-art theatres or does he get to use NHS ones and NHS nurses, for private spinal surgery?
Surely that does not happen in tax-payer-funded hospitals?
Some private treatments are carried out within the NHS if they are highly specialised or likely to include a period of time in intensive care.
Other examples of this include if you develop complications following private treatment which requires the services of the NHS or if your consultant decides that your best option is private treatment in an NHS hospital.
It’s important to remember that NHS hospitals are fully equipped and able to deal with life threatening emergencies as well as serious conditions which require specialist treatment. They have specialist ITU’s (intensive care unit) and, increasingly, private units which offer the same degree of care that you would receive in a private hospital or clinic.
Might that reduce the time and space for NHS work?
Sources:
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/23366836.children-long-waits-cancellations-nhs-spinal-ops/
https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-19-00620/
https://www.phin.org.uk/profiles/consultants/mr-chris-adams-118202
https://www.medic8.com/health-insurance/private-treatment-nhs.htm
Talking-up Scotland 
Parasite doctor is educated and trained at the expense of the taxpayer then wants to do private healthcare using taxpayer facilities this should be a crime he should be checked by HMRC too because there is every possibility his private work income is mistaken as NHS work and then not taxed at all.
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As I watched this latter-day witch hunt my unanswered question for this chap was, ‘How much private work are you doing’?
Disclosure should do a programme investigating Disclosure with its lack of balanced investigative journalism.
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It was so obvious when he spoke of staff shortages as being a reason for delays he could not bring himself to give Brexit and the exodus of EU doctors & nurses that resulted from Brexit as one of the reasons for those shortages. Was he perhaps coached/directed not to give that as an answer?
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The ramping up in articles and media reports over the last year portraying NHS Scotland as uniquely underperforming is beyond mere coincidence, suggesting orchestration and a political agenda.
As your comparison with PHS information demonstrates, “493 out of 17 269 is 1 in 35, somewhat far from Mr Adam’s 1 in 4” – Yet that same public information was available to both the Herald and Disclosure journalists.
As often as not the “lies” are down to context and framing by editors – eg Dr Adams’ observation of “1 in 4” may well be true from personal experience in his specialism, but that pertinent context is removed by the editor to portray a generality.
We’ve seen that same treatment applied to BMA statements over doctors leaving the profession, the crucial context of Westminster having strangled training of new doctors and interfering in existing pension provisions is left on the cutting room floor.
Having previously noted the “Disclosure” team’s gaslighting in my own field of expertise, I’m in no hurry to revisit the experience irrespective of the subject.
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I think this is a plausible explanation of the doctor’s assertion of ‘1 in 4’. He is probably speaking of his own experience, perhaps in one of the private hospitals where he works. Without a context, ‘1 in 4’ could be, literally that, ‘1 of the 4 operations he had scheduled one day had to be cancelled due to lack of nurses.
I have a neighbour who is a retired nurse who used to work at Gartnavel. It was not uncommon for her, when she was nearing the end of her shift to get a call from the Nuffield Hospital across the road asking if she could come across for a couple of hours once her shift was over. Towards the end of her career, when she had grandchildren, she would sometimes have to turn down such offers because she had agreed to mind the children.
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I had an eye check yesterday in the Borders and my optician ranted about Sturgeon’s Scotland, claiming that if I attended his practice in Berwick he could have sent me for a cataract op within weeks but there would be up to 3 yrs to wait in Scotland. Once I made my support for independence clear (without offending the guy taking photos of my eyes of course) he toned his rant down a little but was still pushing the private route. It felt like he had an agenda though I could be wrong, do they work on commission?
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This Dr is trying to let people know about the NHS excluding children from waiting lists for much needed surgery. This article actually relates to my 9 year old nephew, who the NHS have been refusing to put on the waiting list for spinal surgery (since last August).
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/children-with-disabilities-excluded-from-nhs-waiting-lists-b55nvwmtc
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