Fresh from cheekily offering to share NHS England’s ‘best practice’ to help out NHS Wales and Scotland with waiting times (just giving more money to the private sector instead of paying the staff), Steve Barclay faces a 5th junior doctor strike, and the Scottish Health Secretary has reciprocated with an offer to mediate on these damaging strikes.
Understandably medics, health research groups and the unions themselves have been keen to point out that those most-at-risk will be sheltered from the disruption and that no lives have been lost directly due to the action.
I empathise but with around an additional 1 million missed appointments, inevitably pressurised staff in the wards, mistakes will be more frequent and lives, maybe not a huge percentage of the total treated, will be avoidably lost.
Data from the ONS suggest this is the case:
Excess deaths in England almost tripled in the two weeks during and after the first set of strikes by the British Medical Association (BMA) in March, Office for National Statistics (ONS) data shows.
Junior doctors staged industrial action between March 13 and 15 for 72 hours, leading to the cancellation of around 175,000 appointments.
Between March 11 and March 24, the number of excess deaths recorded in England were three times higher compared with two weeks prior, ONS data shows.
Between February 25 and March 10, 22,021 deaths were recorded – 833 (3.9%) above the five-year average.
Some 22,571 deaths were recorded during the week where junior doctors went on strike, and the week after – 2,247 (11.1%) above the five-year average.
https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/deaths-tripled-after-first-set-strikes-junior-doctors/#:~:text=Between%20February%2025%20and%20March,above%20the%20five%2Dyear%20average.
Junior doctors in England have now taken action for 450 hours and so the total excess deaths figure may be more than 20 000.
Had these strikes taken place in Scotland, none have, with one-tenth of the population, excess deaths may have reached 2 000.
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
Englands NHS is being treated like it’s rivers by Westminster government.
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Doing the dirty work for Labour before the GE and the party takes over running the UK government.
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Tories still refusing to fund the NHS properly, causing even more deaths. Until they are gone in six months+. Wasting £Billions of public monies.
Tories funding the NHS £125Billion a year for the last 13 years. Instead of increasing it. Tories spending £1000Billion a year.
UK whole Gov Accounts 2020/2021. July 2023. The Tories wasting £Billions and costing Scotland £Billion. Tories poor bad decisions and policies. Breaking International Law. An absolute disgrace. Labour unionists just as bad. Lying corrupt nasty cheating liars. Causing havoc the world over. Illegal wars, tax evasion, financial fraud. Resulting in untold death. Westmibster Gov rotten to the core. betraying people. Breaking International Law with impunity.
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Mathieson’s “offer” won’t appear on the BBC’s UK webpage lest reality bites it’s readership, better to follow James Cook’s diversion of Leitch’s winter Covid concerns to avoid highlighting the contrast.
As with all public sector pay, junior doctors get a shitty deal because of Tory (and it now appears Labour) dogma, the “we can’t afford it” fairy.
Even though SG have averted strike action by junior doctors, in fairness, and despite the rhetoric of some in management, the BMA knows full well where the fault lies, and it’s not Holyrood.
An “independent review body” which is anything BUT independent is straightforward gaslighting, Tories and Labour alike have hidden behind these “independent” bodies whilst pulling it’s strings for almost 50 years.
For contrast with the present “we can’t afford it” mantra, consider post war Britain – Despite the UK being on it’s financial knees they set up the NHS from scratch.
The difference to the present is there is no pressure to do the right thing from fighting men returning home from conflict.
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