Jackie Baillie accused me of attacking the pupils of the school where the Rutherglen by-election Labour candidate teaches, when I revealed the poor performance of his Modern Studies department.
Today, she equates the criminal neglect of the Countess of Chester hospital’s senior staff and administrators in allowing a serial killer to murder more than seven babies, with an infection outbreak in a Glasgow hospital ‘linked’ to but never proven to be causal in the deaths of two babies.
Nauseating? More?
Here’s the fact-check I did in December 2021 which concluded that the QEUH is one of the safest in the UK.
Today’s Holyrood vote of no confidence in Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board is a political stunt orchestrated by Anas Sarwar, based on media reports alleging, free of evidence, serious problems with infection and deaths.
Here are the facts:
In terms of actual mortality in Glasgow hospitals from April 2019 to March 2020, the period in which we saw the deaths supposedly linked to infections, all of the Glasgow hospitals had expected patient mortality rates and the Queen Elizabeth actually had a better than expected rate with nearly 200 less deaths than predicted based on previous years:
That offending red blob, a hospital which had more deaths than expected, is the Western General in Edinburgh. There is no vote of confidence for that board.
In terms of infections:
In the same year, Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia (SAB), a proven serious systemic form of infection, which leads to increased morbidity and mortality, in a way pigeon poo fungus does not, was, for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, in the same range as other health boards ie low and falling.
Click to access 1_hai-annual-report-2019-summary.pdf
Again, in the same year, incidents of the very infectious Norovirus fell by 40% to only 890 reports yet in NHS England, 1 000 beds were closed in December alone:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/2019/12/nhs-warning-as-winter-vomiting-bug-closes-1000-hospital-beds/
If you want to see hospitals where the health board might be sacked but where no one called for that, try these:
An independent review will be held into maternity services at the East Kent NHS Trust after up to 15 babies died there in recent years. Nadine Dorries, minister for patient safety, pledged immediate action and said NHS England would investigate the two hospitals in Margate and Ashford.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-51490841
More than 1,000 babies die or are left with severe injury each year as a result of something going wrong during labour. It goes beyond the current crisis of underfunding: the Care Quality Commission has found that four in 10 maternity services require improvement or are inadequate.
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
I can fully understand Health Scotland managers being defensive,given the constant politically motivated attacks from Scottish Unionist parties.
The bottom line is,that if you are constrained by what you can spend on public services then,unfortunately,you are always going to struggle to improve matters.
Of course,Westminster likes to peddle the myth about “balancing the books”,when in reality it is about political choices.
Political choices Made in England,determine outcomes in Scottish public services.
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Parallels ?….Not at all…BUT there are DISTINCTIONS in that in Scotland the Scottish government always become the PRIME targets in being those promoted as the ones who are responsible for all and any incidents in the Scottish NHS….while in England it is the respective NHS Trust or indeed the individual themselves who are deemed as responsible…..
The only “parallels” that can be drawn are the consistent and predictable reaction that we always get from the likes of Jackie Baillie and others in the Labour branch office to each and every thing that happens in Scotland….in that according to them (and t’others) it is always the Scottish government who are at fault, to blame and thus are condemned …..while always ignoring the Elephant in the room…the UK government…..though the Elephant is always noted as a obstacle in relation to their party in Wales via their many failures…..funnily enough…
In this instance Baillie’s comparison is beneath contempt in her obvious effort to promote yet another #SNPBAD…..disguised badly as “Health chiefs”…..I think tis she who needs to ‘learn a lesson’…..and that is ….accusing others of “Gutter politics” while you yourself are clearly indulging in it by adopting that strategy is one that will not “win back” “regain” or endear you to voters in Scotland…..
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Individuals with malevolent intentions will naturally be drawn to professions where there is an abundance of potential victims. Thats why safeguarding is built into regulatory systems for such professions. Time for robust safeguarding from malevolent politicians.
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Baillie and Sarwar are the political equivalent to ambulance chasers. Good to hear you’re landing some truth bombs on them John.
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Westminster unionists cut NHS funding from 2015. Did not increase it. £125Billion a year. Trying to cut it £20Billion. Austerity killing even more
The Westminster absolute shambles supported by Labour. Labour are a disgrace especially in Scotland. A phony political Party trying to ruin the economy and people’s lives. Telling total lies of corruption. Supporting Tory corruption at every opportunity. Live expectancy in the South going down, Labour continually attacking public services will lose the vote. People are sick of their wasting £Billions of public monies. A complete and utter joke. Sickening.
The Police are demanding more funding. Losing £Billions of public monies. The Ranger fiasco, the Salmond mistrial, the Campervan chaos. Not investigation before arresting. Arresting innocent people before investigating. Causing Court chaos. Innocent people on remand for months. For minor misdemeanours instead of a caution.
The Budget should be cut. Building a pyramid of ‘crime’. The highest prison numbers in Europe in the UK. Vulnerable people with addition needs and people under the influence of drink and drugs. The drinks in the wits oot. Prison £40,000.
Scottish Gov Increasing total abstinence proper rehab. Labour did not support MUP or the smoking ban. Obesity the next health crisis. Lecturing others. Counselling needs about filling the empty gap. The empty rhetoric of Labour and unionists. They need to be held to account. Attacking the SNHS supported by the people will bring negative results.
Abused women do not get legal aid. It has to be paid back in any case. The have to stay in abusive, unsafe places. Or lose the roof over their head. They do not have equal rights. A Domestic Abuse Act that cannot be dropped or appealed. They need more than handbags. The Police are now arresting abused women and vulnerable people. Without investigation first. Not following Police procedure. Trying to drag innocent people through court. Costing £Billions that could be better spent.
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Jackie Baillie is a nut job don’t take anything she says seriously she lives in a bubble of self aggrandisement she is pretty thick I laugh when I see her talking her nonsense
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Forget the tories. Their party is small stuff compared with a labour party in full battle gear. They are dangerous and, should petty minded independence supporters vote for them rather than an independence supporting party, we will all live to regret that choice.
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Forget the tories. Their party is small stuff compared with a labour party in full battle gear. They are dangerous and, should petty minded independence supporters vote for them rather than an independence supporting party, we will all live to regret that choice.
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Damn Jackie Baillie is scraping the barrel of disgusting behaviour when she attempts to compare the Countess of Chester Hospital scandal with a Glasgow hospital .
She has clearly learned from Sarwar that using the deaths of children is a good attention grabber !
I pity the decent people who still support Labour in Scotland having to hear senior party officials dredging up such gross comments in order to gain a little media attention . How do they put up with it ?
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Pretty disgraceful of Baillie, and scraping the barrel there for political gain, given a platform by the ‘edinburgh news/scotman’. She should apologise and resign for this disingenuous attack on Scotland’s very well run NHS.
Anyone remember when Labour had privatised hospital cleaning services when they were at the helm because I do. I had a friend who worked at Edinburgh’s Western general hospital back then, she was constantly needing time off because of being ill with hospital aquired infections. It was a huge problem in the SNHS, until the SNP took cleaning services back inhouse, so resulting in far fewer staff absences.
Baillie and her branch office of the BritNat English Labour party would delight if something terrible happened to people in Scotland, be that via the NHS or
other public services. That’s what is so scary about their tactics to demonise and undermine the ScotGovs’ work in improving services, against the odds, within the contraints of devolution, and the country next door holding the purse strings.
I did not know they had even tabled a vote about the greater Glasgow and Clyde health board, what an absolute disgrace, based on heresay and media lies. Hell mend ’em.
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During the time the SNP has been in government between 2007 and now, so has Welsh Labour. In elections for the Welsh Parliament the party has won 26 out of 60 seats in 2007, 30 of the 60 seats in 2011, 29 of the 60 in 2016, and 30 of the 60 in 2021.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/nhs-wales-maternity-cwm-taf-b1932701.html
“The full shocking tale of stillbirths at Cwm Taf hospitals that went unreported for years
Dozens more stillbirths going back to 2010 at Royal Glamorgan Hospital and Prince Charles Hospital have never been reported or investigated, it has now emerged”
If you are reading the ☝️ article in Scotland, you will notice unlike Scotland there is no reference to a Welsh politician or party.
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