Expert says Labour’s pledge to restore 18-week waits for life-threatening conditions in five years IS feasible even though they’re miles behind Scotland with only one fourteenth of the waiting list pro rata

By Professor John Robertson

Contrary to the BBC Scotland reporting, the 18 week target for life-threatening conditions is more important than the 2 year target for non-life-threatening, admittedly demoralising hip and knee surgery, on which we apparently do worse than NHS England after massive UK Government investment in private treatment for political ends.

According to Rob Findlay of the Health Service Journal last June:

The biggest task will be keeping up with demand. Beyond that, restoring 18 weeks in one term looks feasible.

Unless he quickly u-turns again on this one, Starmer faces a big challenge to even catch NHS Scotland, never mind wipe out the waiting list.

From the BMJ on February 10 2023:

More than three million patients waited longer than 18 weeks for treatment in England in December, the highest number on record, show data for the NHS in England. In November 2022 a total of 2 902 274 waited 18 weeks or longer, and in December this figure rose to 3 051 661, the data on referral to treatment times show.1

https://www.bmj.com/content/380/bmj.p332

All things being equal, in December 2022, you’d expect Scotland to have 305 000 but in fact it had only 20 448 waiting over 18 weeks.

14.52 times more, per head of population, waiting longer than 18 weeks in England than in Scotland

Source:

https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/nhs-waiting-times-18-weeks-referral-to-treatment/nhs-waiting-times-18-weeks-referral-to-treatment-quarter-ending-31-december-2022/

5 thoughts on “Expert says Labour’s pledge to restore 18-week waits for life-threatening conditions in five years IS feasible even though they’re miles behind Scotland with only one fourteenth of the waiting list pro rata”

  1. If Starmer has stated that he “did not abandon pledges he made to win the Labour leadership” but instead it’s just that “some” (all) of “them” have…..”changed” !

    Then that means all of the pledges he is making now in order for his party to win the next GE can, as pledges, also ‘Change’……is this the “Change” we can expect to see via Labour as the next UK government…..as in former pledges being “Changed” as in abandoned…LOL…

    Starmer states the reason these pledges have now “Changed” is because they cannot afford to do them any more ????……..but he is not committing to raising taxes on the top 5%…..and although Beth Rigsby tried, to no avail, to pursue this point with Starmer as in why Labour would not commit to raising the tax of the top 5%……all she then got was Starmer avoiding/ignoring/not addressing this Q/point that she was making as in fact that action by Labour could do a lot to alleviate much of the financial shortfall..…but instead he , Starmer, waffled on about what the public expects and how he was being level with the public on what they, Labour, can afford to do as the new UK government…..which seemed to be mainly the Labour party looking after the top 5% !

    So basically the top 5% can expect their comfort and wealth to be sustained with a new Labour UK government….so no financial impact for them via their taxes being raised…..while others who are less wealthy can expect to not get those things that Labour formerly pledged because Labour , under Starmer , do not want to source more money to offset some of the government’s financial deficits from the wealthy top 5%…….so basically an unequal society will still exist in their UK with a Labour UK government…..with the Have’s and the Have not’s very much alive and kicking under a New New Labour UK government……where then is the “Change” in that ?

    Labour trying to (badly) convince us that they can be all things to all people….but really they are just the same as the Tories in that they seek to pander to the wealthy few in their seeking to secure financial donations from those who formerly supported and donated to the Tory party…..but in order for Labour to be able to do that, as in secure support from the wealthy, then they , Labour, must have something to offer these wealthy donors in return for their support and financial donations to the Labour party…..so we are currently witnessing another Labour U turn as the Labour party are actually now very much the party FOR the FEW and not FOR the MANY….who saw that coming ????

    Yes Stramer has “Changed” the Labour party but not in the way that he states he has changed it……all he has done is made Labour more palatable to the wealthy few within the UK …..as in the company Employers whose main concern is their bottom line and also those wealthy individuals whose main concern is themselves (their wealth) as opposed to others less fortunate than them…..and that is who Labour’s real target audience is (Wealthy few)…… as in what they are promising behind the scenes and away from the public eye (now being reported that Labour have now gained support from over 100 business leaders)……..

    Please see Open Democracy and their various articles on “Dark Money in politics” to see how this GE is going to be won and it is mainly via donors investing in election campaigns in target seats….and post the GE we need to see how much money was spent by Labour in Scotland (and elsewhere) in certain key seats that they wanted to win ……like say for example one Douglas Alexander’s campaign as in the Labour Dinosaur candidate……and who it was who donated large amounts of money to help Labour win certain seats????

    Money equals power……and that is how New New Labour hope to win power by being the new political choice of those within the UK who have the money to help Labour win that power…….but that comes with a price…..and the price is that former Labour pledges made to the general public will be sacrificed , as in abandoned, so that the pledges Labour have made to the wealthy (donors) can be fulfilled instead.….

    New New Labour without the Socialism…..as now they , Labour as a party, have decided that with the Tory party…..if you cannot beat them….then join them…..as in become a new Tory party in all but your party name. (There is more that unites them , Labour & Tory party, than divides them) ….so perhaps a name “Change” for Labour would or should be on the cards……LaboraTORY party….as an experimental but somehow very apt name for them now ….LOL)

    Vote Labour get Tory.…simples.

    Best to vote SNP in the GE……to really STOP all Tory parties in Scotland gaining/winning any seats here (which includes Lib Dems too as they are also another version of the Tory party)………obvs !

    NMRN

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  2. Was there as much furore and condemnation and indeed publicity via the BBC Scotland news team(s) for Dross and his…checks notes…. ‘mistake‘ in him not declaring income via thousands of pounds….as there has been with Michael Mathieson via the same BBC Scotland news team(s) making this political story not just a news item report but instead an orchestrated vendetta that they, BBC Scotland News teams, are overseeing, as a branch office news team, in allowing hypocrite Dross to make this into a hugely significant and supposed unique example of something he says is defined as another example of #SNPBAD.

    Dross is a TORY…..same party as Tory peer Michelle Mone, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Margaret Thatcher…..same party that gave us a failed Brexit, Windrush scandal, Waspi women scandal, various MP’s accused of and also some charged with sexual assault, Austerity policy now reported to have caused deaths of thousands, 2012 ‘Cash for Access’ Tory scandal, contaminated blood scandal with what was described as an “industrial scale cover up” from all pro UK parties as different UK governments including the Tories, the Post office scandal where UK politicians, including the Tory party, ignored sub postmasters/mistresses for years who, as those workers working in Post offices, all said they were innocent and that the system (Horizon) was wrong, Dominic Cummings scandal, #PartyGate scandal, Greensill scandal involving David Cameron pre him becoming new Tory Foreign Sec, Tory donor Frank Hestor’s racist comment against Diane Abbott ……..Owen Paterson scandal….Chris Pincher scandal…..Neil Parish scandal……Charlie Elphicke scandal…..Rob Roberts scandal….Priti Patel bullying scandal…..William Wragg scandal…..Imran Ahmad Khan scandal…..Andrew Griffiths scandal……Michael Fallon scandal….Stephen Crabb scandal…..but Dross aka El Brass Neckist one…..assumes the public to be El Thicko en masse and ignore all of the real scandals via his party the Tories as scandals via individual Tory politicians , various Tory PM’s and as a Tory UK government…..

    He Dross can stick that assumption where the Sun doth not shine….as some of us who are the public can see who the real hypocrite is ……..but then Dross is a “Lightweight” as a politician so what do we expect other than…..a succession of S**** (rhymes with Plight) statements from him to try and pretend that he , and his party, have better morals and principles than the SNP…..which as far as the real world is concerned is not the case (obvs Dross inhabits an alternate Universe where the Tories are the good guys….LOL)

    BBC Scotland News….not reporting actual political news but instead only reporting FOR the BENEFIT of and on BEHALF of every other political party BAR the SNP…..

    NMRN

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