Reading today Sunak ‘highly unlikely’ to meet promise to cut NHS waiting lists, warn health leaders and predictions that England’s waiting list will soar to 8 million next year, from the 7.6 million in the above graphs, I had a wee look around and found that in an August 2023 Guardian article I’d missed and ‘our’ media had ignored.
In that report we see also:
“There are many differences across the devolved nations which might be relevant here, notably an older population in Scotland and Wales with more deprivation; higher nurse staffing and higher spending in both Scotland and Wales; and more doctors in Scotland,” they [Nuffield Trust] said.
So, against the odds, with an older more deprived population, NHS Scotland still performs best.
Finally, for when Jackie Baillie accuses the Scottish Government of not spending as much on the NHS, this:
Health expenditure in the United Kingdom in 2021/22 (of which NHS spend is the lion’s share) was highest in Scotland at £3,490 per person and lowest in England at £3,192 per capita.
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
“Factchecks”
The media here do not like ‘Fact checks’ ………indeed do they even check the facts or do they prefer to continue to source their ‘facts’ from unreliable sources hostile to the Scottish government…..and then when challenged and exposed as NOT being factual…they then assume they can just issue a correction which they then hope is unseen or unheard by the same people who read or heard the original coverage that included their factually incorrect NON story………
It’s sadly an all too familiar sequence played out in the stories that they publish or broadcast that we, the public, have come to expect from them…….as in those of us clued up fully as to what tactics they, as a media, employ to con the public…..an exercise so obvious tis amazing MORE people are not fully aware of it ……though perhaps more may be aware of it than I assume….I do hope so………as tis surely abundantly clear that we here in Scotland are very much short changed by the poor standard of media that we have to tolerate as our supposed ‘news providers’….
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Can’t say I’m aware of them issuing corrections, more likely they keep on repeating them or finding another negative angle to report. Even when formal complaints are made, they come up with spurious arguments in support of their stances, John can well attest to that, I’m sure.
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Forgot to login before posting that reply,
Robert Martin
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Her Dameness The Jaikie of Baillie will claim that the higher expenditure in Scotland is an example of the extent to which England subsidises Scotland, so we are Better Together.
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…and , she often claims , Scottish patients are travelling to England to get treatment which is not available here . They , presumably , are travelling down on the ferries that don’t work !
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Good to see this particular Guardian article getting profile.
Someone here btl back in mid August provided a link and I recall commenting at the time (14 August): ‘ Congratulations are due to the journalists Pamela Duncan, Michael Goodier and Anna Bawden of the Guardian for providing one of the most informative and balanced pieces of reporting on the NHS, its financing and its performance across the four nations of the UK I’ve seen in the mainstream news media for some time. Worth a blog post to amplify the details?’
It is notable how poorly the performance of the NHS in Wales turns out to be despite it being run by the political party with all the answers (apparently) for NHS Scotland: refer to Dame Jackie MSP and her words of wisdom captured weekly by BBC Scotland for details. I have no wish to criticise the Welsh government but do take issue with the hypocrisy of the Labour LEADERSHIP in Scotland.
The article rather confirms something else. The notion that devolved administrations in Belfast, Cardiff or Edinburgh have sufficient economic, fiscal and/or borrowing powers – either over the short or the longer term – to counter UK-wide factors is exposed as nonsense!
And given the current state the national health service, the ability of devolved governments in the UK to deliver sustainable, publicly funded health and social care services that are SUBSTANTIALLY, rather than marginally, better than those in England is – under present constitutional arrangements – ‘for the birds’! Candidly, it is remarkable how well Scotland’s NHS performs relative to its UK peers given the circumstances.
The solution for Scotland and its NHS lies in national self-determination, is agency, and not with Ms Baillie’s Labour Party!
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Some may think that I am conducting a campaign against Humza (I do really like the guy) but again I was waiting in eager anticipation for Baillie or for that matter any of the opposition benches to bring up waiting times at FMQ’s but alas all we got in reply was the same repetition of ‘additional funding and superior NHS nos’ that we have heard ad nauseam. I sometimes just hark back to how Salmond or indeed Sturgeon would have responded given what we know about the above comparative waiting times in rUK. Their ears would be burning in embarrassment.
Sorry it just bugs me that for many people who tune into FMQ’s and the many schoolkids that are ever present what they take from Humza’s retorts. It seems we are missing these opportunities to show the uninitiated that in these difficult times the Scottish Government is indeed still delivering for our people.
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Healthcare workers left because of Brexit. Covid delayed treatment. The Tories cut healthcare funding from 2015. 125Billion they did not increase it. The Tories have spent 270Billion over two years on Covid. Billions asked. Scotland did not receive 27Billion pro rata. The Scottish Gov has to mitigate the funding.
People are still being treated. Especially acute conditions. Phone the Dr early or later for a call back. To assess the condition. To get an appointment.
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