A quick reminder of the facts before looking at the above, by the Herald’s Helen McArdle:
From Public Health Scotland yesterday:
During May 2023, there were 24,125 operations planned to take place across NHS Scotland. This represents an increase of 21.6% compared to the 19,840 planned for April 2023 and is 10.2% higher than the number planned a year previously in May 2022 (21,895)….475 (2%) were cancelled by the hospital due to capacity or non-clinical reasons.
Here’s a key extract from the Herald front page:
Let’s be clear about that ‘500’ in the headline. 475 procedures were postponed due to unpredictable staff sickness or a surge in last-minute emergency cases due to perhaps a major road accident, but that’s only 2% of the total. So, while 3% were cancelled by the surgeon in the interests of the patients’ safety and 3% were cancelled by the patient exerting their right to do so, the system had the capacity to do 98%.
The 2% cancelled due to capacity reasons is down from a peak of 3% in 2021 and unchanged for the last few months. There has been no recent surge of any kind.
As for the ‘last-minute’ issue:
That’s a lie. See this:
During the latest month, 8.3% (2,003) planned operations were cancelled the day before or on the day the patient was due to be treated, for NHSScotland. This has decreased slightly from 8.7% (1,733) reported during the previous month but remains comparable to pre-pandemic levels (8.3% in May 2019). Across NHS Boards, this percentage ranged from 5% to 12.1%.
https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/cancelled-planned-operations/cancelled-planned-operations-month-ending-31-may-2023/
The 8.3% cancelled the day before or on the day, includes those where the surgeon decided in the interests of the patient to cancel and those where the patient called-off, as well as those due to a lack of staff or theatre space. Intuitively, I’d guess most were patient call-offs as many, all-too-understandably, ‘chicken out.’ As far as I can see there is no breakdown of the 8.3%.
Also, the 8.3% cancelled the day before or on the day is down from the previous month and is the same as pre-pandemic. That is good news but presented by McArdle so as to conceal the truth.
Jackie Baillie and Sandesh Gulhane then get 9 front page paragraphs to add to the barefaced lies ignoring NHS Scotland’s better staffing, greater number of beds and all-round better performance.
Overall, shameful!
Talking-up Scotland 
A health correspondent who dedicates her time to getting the facts and distorting how they are presented. In any other job that would be a reason to terminate the employment
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I’m afraid that’s her job Robert. The same goes for most of the media in Scotland. Anything they can twist to make the Scottish Government look bad, and of course, provide a headline for their rag, which I believe passes for a newspaper.
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If no operations were cancelled due to capacity constraints then the MSM and the opposition would be decrying the SNP led NHS for being ‘bloated’ and ‘inefficient’ so it’s a no win situation.
In the real world however the percentages being in line with pre-covid values plus the increased numbers of operations performed confirms that the service remains on an even keel.
A wonderful achievement by the SHS and SG
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Exclusive :
”Nearly 500 of the Herald’s Unhealthy Correspondent Helen McArdle’s statistics are misleading . This has been confirmed by the Baillie/Gulhane Facts Checking algorithm .”
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lower than a snakes belly, somebody must be paying them to publish this shite, but I’m happy to say, ‘it’s nae me’.
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Personally, I take some satisfaction in that the more outlandish their articles are the more desperate they are becoming.
Meanwhile their circulation and influence disappears as indeed will the “financial support” that is keeping it going.
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Wonder what bad news story on England’s NHS they’ve been instructed to obscure… McArdle’s counterpart at HMS James Cook has “No money for birthday gifts as the NHS turns 75”, an unusually balanced and reflective Lisa Summers piece in which she avoided deploying the “crisis” rhetoric.
There are a huge number of factors involved in an operation, a problem on any one of which can trigger the decision to cancel, it’s not nearly so simple as McArdle’s glib “lack of beds and staff” portrays.
Stats are a useful tool for management, but all too often of late they’ve become a political propaganda weapon, notably for the Baillie & Gulhane double act.
There are 14 Health Boards across Scotland so on any given day Helen’s “500…..crisis” headline is just over 1 cancellation per HB per day, and not a single politician or journalist required.
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The once proud Herald is like a penniless old lady of advancing years futilely resorting to prostitution in an attempt to survive.
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Yes ,what happened to the Herald?
I seem to remember the editorial on the 17th of September 2014- This is not the time but we at the Herald shall be holding Westminster’s feet to the fire!
Ha!
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Shameless indeed. Distortion of stats to bolster the SNHS/SG bad rhetoric.
Is there not a role for the Press watchdog in cases of such dishonest reporting?
The depths are being dredged by Msm to gather enough sludge to publish with the sole intent of diminishing our trust in both the SNHS and SG.
Does McArdle et al have such little pride in our country and its services that they take satisfaction in peddling distortion?
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It is the headline & 1st para that distorts the picture. If you read the full article the rest of the info in the PHS report is there but how many read beyond the headline? Blazing headline highlighting the, supposedly, negative aspect of the figures and job done because people wont read the rest in fact they are probably unlikely to even buy the paper.
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The real issue here is that the 98% wasn’t used, cancellation by the surgeon is almost entirely down to premeds on the day or day before where clinicians whether you realise it or not determine whether you are fit for surgery or whether at this stage surgery would benefit or otherwise the condition, there is absolutely no way at this stage the SNHS can fill the slot other than by dragging people of the street or doing a quick tour of the car park to find someone needing an op. The same applies to the arseholes who wait till the last minute to cancel an operation and there are no acceptable reasons for doing that, your dentist would make you pay if you did. I have benefited from a cancellation when the date to my op was scheduled for something like 3 weeks after I recieved the letter, 2 days later I received another which stated because of a cancellation they could bring mine forward to, I think it was something like 2 weeks early. They have a system to deal with cancellations but it doesn’t work if it’s the day before or the same day.
So 1 clinical reasons
2 arseholes.
Am I being unkind here.
Maybe McArdle could do a hatchet job on the arseholes.
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“Is there not a role for the Press watchdog in cases of such dishonest reporting?”
It’s unlikely that they would take any action. The problem we have is that the MSM and BBC Scotland have been pushing their propaganda and lies to the very limit and getting away with it. They now know that the establishment and a large percentage of the people are OK with what they’re doing. It will only get worse.
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The elderly are getting their operations and procedures. The BBC are lying again. 80% of the SNHS is used by 20%. The elderly. ‘Journalists’ and reporters? and statistics. A joke.
Scotland spends £13Billion + social care. Personal care lets people stay in their own home for longer. More efficient and less costly. Residential care £1000+. Hospital care £thousand a day.
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