Straight after we hear that Neil Grey is ‘facing‘ his first day as Health Secretary, Reporting Scotland at 06:27am:
It comes as the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) says the NHS is handling fewer patients – including 21% fewer elective in-patients – but costing more. A Scottish Government spokesperson said they remain committed to reducing waits for planned and emergency care.
Then from Max, above:
I think this should be one of the highest priorities for the new health secretary. NHS and health spending is one of the largest fings (sic) the Scottish Government or most governments do and when you have lower productivity that means you’re getting less for your money and given the really challenging economic and fiscal situation the Scottish Government faces, really trying to understand and improve that NHS productivity is a really crucial issue.
The story is another classic Reporting Scotland only choice. There’s nothing on the BBC Scotland or Scotland Politics or Scotland Business websites for me to check out. The story is not on any of the other BBC UK, England or Business sites.
It isn’t on BBC Health either but this is: Cancer waiting times in 2023 worst on record in England
Off to the IFS website then.
Here’s the opening paragraph:
Health is the largest single area of Scottish Government spending, making up 35% of the Scottish Government’s total discretionary budget in 2024–25 and 39% of its non-benefit budget. Its share of spending has grown significantly over time, driven by large increases in health spending in the 2000s and cutbacks to other areas of spending in the 2010s. This trend is set to continue with the Scottish Fiscal Commission (SFC) projecting that to keep up with the demands of an ageing, less healthy population, and medical advancements, Scottish health spending would need to grow by around 3% in real terms per year in the late 2020s and 2030s, compared with around 2% for all Scottish Government spending. More urgently, there is clear evidence that the NHS in Scotland, as in the rest of the UK, is struggling to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, despite record levels of spending and staffing.
In this chapter of our second Scottish Budget Report, we therefore look at long-run trends in healthcare spending in Scotland and how these compare with trends in England and Wales, before examining recent trends in NHS staffing, activity, productivity and performance in Scotland. We conclude with a discussion about future funding and staffing.
So, productivity not really headlined and no mention of the 21% fewer patients.
Let’s look for the 21% first.
Measured hospital activity fell rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic and has still failed to recover fully. In April–June 2023, the Scottish NHS treated 8% fewer elective day-case patients, handled 8% fewer emergency admissions and 8% fewer outpatient appointments and treated 21% fewer elective inpatient admissions than pre-pandemic.
So, it’s just April-June 2023 and they’re comparing with pre-pandemic?
Have a look at this:
The green shaded area shows you that planned operations are climbing steadily back to pre-pandemic levels and crucially, the single solid grey line, tells you that around 2% only of opps are cancelled due to lack of staff or facilities, ie nearly 98% are being done on time and as planned. Show me a business doing better than 98%.
Let’s look for productivity.
The apparent fall in hospital productivity in Scotland is similar in magnitude to that observed in the English NHS. But England has increased staff by more than Scotland, so the recovery in hospital activity has been much greater.
Much of this increase in spending will go towards increased staffing. However, the Scottish Government’s health and social care workforce plan only aims to increase NHS staffing by 1% over the five years from 2022. The English NHS workforce plan implies a 20–21% growth in NHS staff in England over the same period. This suggests that Scotland is likely to need to either increase staffing numbers and spending by more than planned increases, find ways to boost productivity significantly faster than is being planned in England, or live with a relative deterioration in NHS service quality.
IFS? More like FFS!
An 11 year-old might ask the obvious question:
What is the actual level of staffing now before you compare the percentages? Maybe, NHS Scotland is better staffed in the first place and so needs a smaller increase? Duuh!
Let’s find out, class. In 2023
NHS Scotland has 181 000 staff, 1 for every 30 members of the population of 5.44 million.
NHS England has 1.4 million staff, 1 for every 40 members of the population of 56 million.
NHS Wales has 90 000 million staff, 1 for every 35 members of the population of 3.14 million.
What about GPs?
As the below chart shows, the level of cover of GPs varies across the UK and across the regions of England. The highest levels are in Scotland (76 GPs per 100,000 population) and the lowest in North West London (54)
Try to listen to Max if you can. It’s like a Harry Enfield sketch.
Sources:
https://ifs.org.uk/publications/scottish-budget-healthcare-spending-staffing-and-activity
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://ifs.org.uk/sites/default/files/2024-02/Healthcare-spending-staffing-and-activity-IFS-Report-R298.pdf
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
NHS strikes have been avoided in Scotland.
No mention of it in our beloved BBC Scotland or comparisons with strike hit NHS England.
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The Westminster Gov cut NHS spending from 2015. No increase. £125Billion. The UK Gov spent £1090Billion. Raised £731 Billion. 2020/21. Scotland having to make debt repayments on monies not borrowed or spent in Scotland, The illegal Barnett formula etc.
The Tories spent £270Billion over two years on Covid funding. Much of it was wasted on illegal Gov contract for their associates. PPE etc. Not fit for purpose.
Scottish Gov spend £13Billion on SNHS. Plus social care. From an underfunded block grant of £40Billion. Prescription care. Social care. Less hospital stays. The elderly can stay in their own homes longer.
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Quelle surprise….. If GMS didn’t start the day on a negative, viewers would be in shock…
For sure there are areas where efficiency can improve in Scotland’s NHS, but the notion it can be achieved without further investment, is the same myopic economic thinking which has reduced the UK to the mess it is today – Having said that, we have no idea what ‘over fings’ Max said which hit the cutting room floor, that’s how Pacific Quay rolls….
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Great stuff.
a wee correction required possibly?!
”NHS Wales has 90 000 million staff, 1 for every 35 members of the population of 3.14 million.”
Staffing level seems a tad high!
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Just seen a tweet from Johnny Dundee Twitter a/c which stated:
“Odd how, depending which UK nation’s NHS the Tories or Labour are in charge of, that Covid is a serious setback to to lowering NHS waiting lists. The only UK nation’s Government not allowed (by Tories & Labour) to mention Covid hampering progress is the SNP Scottish Govt”
Indeed, in fact I remember when Dross accused Nicola Sturgeon of “Hiding behind the Covid shield” yet Sunak, when challenged on England’s high waiting lists, used Covid as an excuse for these waiting lists still not being reduced…or as Dross states he, Sunak, was and is still “hiding behind the Covid shield”.
It seems we the public are expected to believe that ONLY the SNP/Scottish government are those who, as a government, are expected to overcome and succeed where other governments within the UK are allowed to make excuses for their many failings…..that is they, Pro UK parties and their client media, are playing politics as those in opposition to the SNP/Scottish government….which is something they all are most adept at doing and also relentless in their persistence in trying to undermine, attack and ultimately trying to bring down the SNP….and thus they assume that will also then stop independence for Scotland.
It seems there is no end to all of criticisms and allegations against the SNP via opposition parties, various sections of the MSM, Think Tanks, Business owners, rogue new TV ‘news’ channels, political pundits and too ‘Research’ Institutes who are more than willing to ‘stick the boot into’ the Scottish government while somehow they are more diplomatic and thus willing to understand and explain the constraints and impediments they say they identify as facing other governments within the UK ……which they do not identify as being similar issues/constraint/impediments that also greatly impact our government in Scotland……….how very political of them.
It seems to me that all of the biggest impediments and constraints have come from the Tory UK government themselves and if and when New New Labour take charge it seems it will be, for Scotland and our government, no different……..as the new bosses will be the exact same as the old bosses at WM…….
NMRN
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‘more than willing to ‘stick the boot into’ the Scottish government while somehow they are more diplomatic … ‘
I’ve just been catching up on the press releases issued by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) that follow on from monthly releases of A&E waiting times performance data by the NHS in the four UK nations.
As exemplified by comparing recent statements on the performance of NHS England and NHS Scotland, both the effort gone to in terms of preparing content and the negativity of tone in the text used towards NHS Scotland and by association towards the Scottish Government is remarkable! It’s as if the author of the RCEM’s statement on Scotland is writing to secure a BBC Scotland headline!
The contrast is even more remarkable given that on key performance metrics emphasised by the RCEM – percentage of attendances seen within four hours at major Emergency Departments and the number of attendances extending over 12 hours – NHS Scotland consistently and by a substantial margin, outperforms NHS England. The RCEM has even published time series graphs that demonstrate very clearly that for years the NHS in Scotland has out-performed its peers in the other three nations.
The RCEM is perfectly entitled to demand better, sooner of any government responsible for NHS operations. However, it should be more even handed if it wishes to avoid a charge of political motivation when opting for such contrasting approaches to the drafting of press statements.
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Bravo
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Allow me to sum up …” SNPBaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad!!!! ”- as quoted from the BBC Charter .
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O/T
What constitutes a scandal in politics in the UK ?
Was it considered a scandal that Douglas Ross initially failed to declare earnings from his second and third jobs while serving as an MP.
“As a referee for the Scottish Football Association (“SFA”) on 16 occasions
with payments totalling over £4900 received between 23 November 202 – 19 January 2021″.
“As a referee for the Union of European Football (“UEFA”) on one occasion
with a payment of £1997.57 received on 30 November 2020″.
“As a Member of the Scottish Parliament between May and September
2021 with monthly payments of £1790.83″.
Was it also considered a scandal when Nadhim Zahawi failed to file his taxes properly ?
“Experts estimate the tax due was about £3.7m based on the capital gains tax incurred by the sale of multiple tranches of shares in YouGov worth more than £20m, which led to transfers of money to Zahawi. It is understood HMRC applied a 30% penalty to the £3.7m, bringing the total due to £4.8m”
Forget all of THAT as it seems the only real and biggest scandal is the one involving Michael Mathieson ………as the excessive media scrum to get to Humza inside the parliament yesterday was something to behold (boak inducing even)……meanwhile Dross and Zahawi can say they made an ‘error’ and thus we, both public and media, should just ‘Move on’...meanwhile it seems there should be no ‘moving on’ or indeed mitigating circumstances/ or errors allowed to be considered as credible or feasible for Michael Mathieson ……
So basically no opposition party should have tried to seek any political capital from either of the occurrences (scandals) involving Dross and Zahawi…..but Dross is currently being allowed to again relish his undeserved moment to seek political capital from and be given the opportunity to play the game he always plays i.e. of Pot Kettle Black in respect to Michael Mathieson and the SNP……..however the list of scandals linked to the Tory party that include Windrush, Grenfell, Brexit, Fast track lane for PPE contracts awarded to Tory donors by the Tory government (and to their families and friends…and a certain Tory Peer also), Tory parties during lockdown, Tory Health minister breaking social distancing rules by being filmed kissing their aide, Sex scandals, billions spent on a failed Test & Trace system in England by the Tory UK government…….cronyism, one of many Lobbying scandals ( i.e.. Owen Paterson) and too Boris Johnson trying to change the rules to save Paterson etc etc etc
I think we all know where the REAL scandals are being committed and by whom.
So Dross and his party’s client media can stick their faux indignation and faux anger where the Sun does not shine…….as many of us know who , via political party, is the Daddy of them all in respect to being a renowned Scandal ridden political party….and it is certainly NOT the SNP that’s for sure !
NMRN
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”I am frustrated” and No not in that way but when Sarwar, Baillie & Co criticise the Scot Gov on its NHS performance it seems to me that the link below would be more than sufficient and a robust response to shut them up completely. So why I ask do they not respond …..
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-66111431
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It’s on STV too. They are coming close to being as bad as BBC Scotland. Every night Scottish Government bad, SNP Bad Scotland bad usually for the first half at least of their output. I was in Forth Valley two weeks ago for an appointment a hospital I have had to visit fairly regularly since it opened and I have never seen it so busy so where are these figures coming from.
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