By Professor John Robertson
BBC Scotland milking another sick child story again. I’m amazed Anas Sarwar is not bedside cuddling her.
BBC Scotland, last year and today, pin the blame on the SNP in government with:
Mr Adams had previously claimed that nursing shortages at the Edinburgh children’s hospital were contributing to some young patients waiting up to three times longer for spinal surgery than they were pre-pandemic.
First, there’s no mention in their report that Scotland has far more nurses and doctors per head of population than England.
In 2023,
Under the SNP government, we have over 28,000 more doctors, nurses and other health staff in Scotland’s NHS – that’s 22.7% more under the SNP. Moreover, data from NHS Scotland has showed as of July 2023 a record number of trainee doctors positions (1,061 of the 1,137) have been filled- with the total higher than last year’s record by 100 posts. And per head of population, Scotland has significantly more NHS staff than England – 2,852 per 100,000 people, compared to 2,178 south of the border.
https://www.snp.org/healthier-scotland/
Second, there’s no mention of the complete absence of health strikes, uniquely, in Scotland.
Third, here’s no mention of this:
Might Mr Adam’s busy private consultancy work, £310 for a first consultation in 2023, confidential now, be getting in the way of his NHS work? Two titchy wee hospitals in Edinburgh are listed as the place of work for his private work. Do they have state-of-the-art theatres or does he get to use NHS ones and NHS nurses, for private spinal surgery?
Remember, the private hospitals do not train staff. The NHS does, using funds from our taxes.
Surely private surgery does not happen in tax-payer-funded hospitals?
Some private treatments are carried out within the NHS if they are highly specialised or likely to include a period of time in intensive care.
Other examples of this include if you develop complications following private treatment which requires the services of the NHS or if your consultant decides that your best option is private treatment in an NHS hospital.
It’s important to remember that NHS hospitals are fully equipped and able to deal with life threatening emergencies as well as serious conditions which require specialist treatment. They have specialist ITU’s (intensive care unit) and, increasingly, private units which offer the same degree of care that you would receive in a private hospital or clinic.
https://www.medic8.com/health-insurance/private-treatment-nhs.htm
Might that reduce the time and space for NHS work?
What’s UK Labour’s position on this?
Wes Streeting has defended Labour’s plans to use the private sector to help cut the NHS care backlog, arguing that a failure to do so would result in a “betrayal” of working-class people who cannot afford to pay for care. The shadow health secretary said his approach was a “pragmatic but principled one” as he doubled down on his remarks this week about “middle-class lefties” whom he said risked putting ideological purity ahead of patient care.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/apr/12/wes-streeting-defends-labour-plan-private-sector-cut-nhs-backlog
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
Private health care should not be allowed to use NHS facilities these private health companies would not exist if they were told to have their own facilities because they wouldnt invest in the expensive equipment that the NHS has , why ? well its simple we see it every day look at the trains in england look at water in england they dont invest enough but give huge payouts to shareholders and thats exactly what the private health companies in uk do why are we subsidising private health care it means the huge payouts their shareholders get is partly coming from us who let them use the NHS facilities we paid for only to then see them criticise us and our NHS , tell them to take a jump cut them off and tell our NHS doctors make your mind up you are either working for us a job for life or scram go find a job in the private health care.They wouldnt find a job in the private health care because its tiny its a scam if there were jobs there to be had they would have already left.
LikeLiked by 6 people
Private Hospitals ( sic ) cannot function without the NHS :
they have no A&E facilities ; they do not cater for long term chronic illness , they do not train doctors , nurses etc . they rely almost entirely on ”moonlighting NHS staff , they need the NHS as a Safety-net in the event of ”complications” in surgery when they cannot cope ; they require the NHS to address and rectify the ”failures” in Private Hospitals e.g in cosmetic surgery gone wrong ….
In effect they are little better than parasites on the NHS but with good PR !
LikeLiked by 7 people
If these consultants are using NHS facilities and all the equipment then may I suggest they have to pay a percentage of their fee towards the NHS for the use.
O/T I note that Balmoral is now opening to the public and they need a lot of more different staff but as there is such a shortage of labour are they going to get preferential treatment with visas for EU workers. Worth keeping an eye on.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Worth keeping an eye on?
I appoint you TuS Head of Balmoral Spying.
Report when you can
W
LikeLiked by 1 person