While Scotland’s media drool over possibility that Michael Matheson was watching something ‘naughty’ in his Netflix account, BBC UK have some heavy stuff, including the appalling news England’s maternity units. That’s a sackable offence for a Health Secretary surely? Only in Scotland?

This news seems to be a reworking of a BBC Health report on 20 October, this year, which drew this response from me:

Thanks once more to Dorothy for alerting me to this:

Note the wee print under the photo – 85 dangerously substandard maternity units in NHS England.

The ‘Scottish’ media are quiet. If they had something, they’d be all over it like nappy rash.

I searched for ‘Scotland maternity inspections substandard‘ – only English ‘hits’.

I searched the Healthcare Improvement Scotland site – nothing.

I tried ‘Scotland maternity hospital inspection concerns‘ – bingo!

As in the headline, only one minor concern in 2017 and another in 2013 but hey, using Reporting Scotland editorial standards, that’ll do. Get Gulhane or Baillie on the phone.

Equitable?

See this from Stirling University researchers in the BMJ in 2019:

We found few differences in maternity care experience for women based on their physical or socioeconomic characteristics. Our findings indicate that maternity care in Scotland is generally equitable. 

https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/9/2/e023282