NHS Scotland operations surge back toward pre-pandemic levels and capacity to to do 98% on time is maintained for years

The Herald, as always sticks a grubby thumb into NHS figures and comes out with a bad news story.

Sad? Desperate? Both.

From Public Health Scotland today:

During August 2023, there were 26,006 operations planned to take place across NHSScotland, the highest number of planned operations since February 2020. This is 10.1% higher than the number planned a year previously in August 2022 (23,626).

The number of planned operations has been steadily increasing since pandemic restrictions first affected provision of services in March 2020. In the 12 months to August 2023, there was a 17.4% increase in the number of planned operations compared to the previous 12 months. This compares to a 10.2% year-on-year increase when comparing year ending August 2022 to year ending August 2021.

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What’s not to like in the above news?

Also, what percentage had to be postponed due to capacity or non-clinical reasons? Only 2% and around that level for years. That’s an astonishing performance in an institution with more than 180 000 staff, treating nearly 4 million patients per year in more than 100 hospitals.

One thought on “NHS Scotland operations surge back toward pre-pandemic levels and capacity to to do 98% on time is maintained for years”

  1. Given the above, are these the instructions to staff journalists working for certain media organisations that ‘serve’ Scotland?

    “Read new reports or review new data  – any report, any data – that’s about Scotland, and if you can conceive of a negative frame, a negative story then write it up and we’ll publish it.  

    “If a negative frame, a negative story can’t be conceived then ignore this report, ignore these data. They are of no value to us.

    “But you’ll have to try much harder – be more creative – in constructing a negative next time if you want to succeed here. We cannot miss out on any opportunity to construct, aggregate and amplify negative messages to feed to our readers/listeners/viewers in Scotland for reasons that should be obvious to you!” (select as appropriate)

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