On 30 July 2024, with not a trace of a cheeky grin, BBC Scotland reported:
A rise in the number of students studying medicine in Scotland has resulted in a shortage of cadavers, according to a report. Prof Gordon Findlater, who is HM Inspector of Anatomy for Scotland, found that surgical colleges were having to cancel university training courses because the demand for bodies was so high.
So, in response to an increase in the number of students studying medicine, previously called for by those Labour figures, Baillie and Sarwar, in BBC Scotland reports, the senior news editor who claims they’re not ignoring County Lines gangs, says:
More student doctors?! That’s no f*****ng good. You get a different angle on that. As bad as you can, girl!
It wasn’t easy but the young reporter, still nervous after receiving suggestive texts from her boss, came up with:
Corpse shortage due to rise in Scottish medical students – report
and the above utterly tasteless image.
I suppose they considered:
SNP opioid overdose recovery drug reducing death rate and worsening corpse shortage for new docs!
BBC Income Generation head, Marmaduke Jinks (BA Ordinary Oxford) was immediately inspired when he saw this and has now developed an, evening with drinks game, for you all.
You throw a dice to go round a plan of BBC HQ and land on good news stories for Scotland. To be able to throw again, you have to come up with an utterly ridiculous alternative which makes Scotland look bad in some way, like the initial corpse shortage, and that makes other game participants smile or laugh.
For example you land on:
New Arran ferry to begin service in August!
You might offer:
Brodick residents complain about noise from too many ferries arriving on time!
Get the idea?
Your turn:
NHS Scotland’s IVF programme sees 100% of referrals on time!
Drug deaths in Scotland fall for second year!
English mental health patients travelling to Scotland for treatment!
Death by stabbing rate in Scotland far lower than in England!
Scotland has more police officers now than it had in 2007!
Police Scotland’s armoured car is never used!
Over to you.
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
Student doctors welcome increase in corpse supply after Labour cut winter fuel allowance
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They would probably frame the headline as:
‘Labour UKGov help the SNP address their shortage of corpses for medical students by cutting Winter Fuel Payment for pensioners’
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BBC Hootsmon save money by only sending one person to report on the Olympics from their “region”.
BEEB England send hundreds, maybe thousands.
But that’ll be because England is allocated a hundred times more staff/money than Scotland by the BBC.
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Nicola Sturgeon invents cure for cancer.
BBC headline – Sturgeon creates pension timebomb.
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BritNats at BBC; Breaking, new exciting game has been developed in Scotland, ‘find a corpse’, is THE most innovative idea to come out of Scotland in centuries! See if you can win this exciting and entertaining game, play today for just <£37billion block grant funding for your country. 😉
You can thank the English government for their investment in this amazing 'opportunity' for teensy weeny Scotland!
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‘A rise in the number of students studying medicine in Scotland has resulted in a shortage of cadavers, according to a report. Prof Gordon Findlater, who is HM Inspector of Anatomy for Scotland, found that surgical colleges were having to cancel university training courses because the demand for bodies was so high.’
As always one needs to read BBC Scotland’s news reports carefully and to the end in order to get a full – or at best a fuller – picture.
Source https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/independent-report/2024/07/hm-inspector-anatomy-scotland-annual-report-2023-2024/documents/hm-inspector-anatomy-scotland-annual-report-scottish-ministers/hm-inspector-anatomy-scotland-annual-report-scottish-ministers/govscot%3Adocument/hm-inspector-anatomy-scotland-annual-report-scottish-ministers.pdf
The HM Inspector’s Annual Report in para 124: ‘There is however a potential problem arising from the increasing number of medical students attending University with the resulting increased demand for bodies. This is already having an impact on the Surgical Colleges who are now having to cancel training courses due to medical schools having to meet their own needs first before that of the Colleges.‘
On demand, the report explains: ‘Use of Bodies other than for the Teaching of Medical Students: It is invariably the case that when someone leaves their body to the medical school, the assumption is made that is for the teaching of anatomy to undergraduate medical students. However, what is not always appreciated is the use made of donated bodies for the advancement of medical science and surgical training. Without exception, every Scottish medical school makes donated bodies available to surgeons in training and to research scientists enabling pioneering research to take place in Scotland.’
An annex of the HM Inspector’s Annual Report lists the courses that may wish to access cadavers for other than teaching medical students. These include ones offered by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. My understanding is that the College offers its courses to medical professionals across the UK and internationally. Has there been an increase in demand from providers of CPD courses for surgeons in Scotland, the rUK or internationally?
Para 116 of the Annual Report compares relevant metrics for the year 2023-24 with those in the previous year’s report. On ALL the input metrics, the numbers for 2023-24 are more favourable – if in instances only slightly – than for 2022-23: perhaps this is why the HM Inspector uses the term ‘potential’ in the 2023-24 Annual Report’s conclusion!
The HM Inspector’s report makes NO MENTION of the increased use of digital cadavers alongside human cadavers in medical education and training. What is the further, future potential of this digital technology blended with more traditional teaching methods?
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