By Professor John Robertson OBA
Today, BBC UK’s Nick Triggle has:
The cancers with longest treatment waits revealed
with the above graph for NHS England data.
I’ve added, where possible, equivalent Scottish data. While skin and prostate/kidney waiting times do seem slightly longer in Scotland, in 5 key areas, including breast, lung and liver cancers, NHS Scotland ‘s performance is dramatically better, saving thousands of lives.
Triggle only mentions Scotland once:
See what he’s done there? Scotland, on that measure alone, seems worse than England because he is careful not to tell us how close the two countries were to the target over that period. See these two graphs:
On the 62-day standard (referral to treatment begins), England has had significantly more than 30% waiting longer (less than 70% seen on time), since late 2021, while Scotland has always had less than 30% waiting (more than 70% seen) in the same period.
On the 31-day standard (decision to treat to treatment begins), England has had nearly 10% waiting longer (90% seen on time), since 2023, while Scotland has always had well under 10%, around 5%, waiting (95% seen on time) in the same period.
The OBA – https://scotsindependent.scot/?page_id=116
Sources:
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
Also in Labour controlled Wales.
The BBC report via their website in their Welsh page that:
“Private patient numbers double amid NHS troubles“
“Private hospital admissions are at a record high in Wales, according to new figures”.
“There were almost 8,000 admissions to Welsh private hospitals in the first three months of 2024, the Private Healthcare Information Network said”
Also in Labour controlled Wales and also via the BBC website on their Welsh page.
“Family unable to see a dentist in four years”
“A woman says she and her family have been unable to see an NHS dentist for more than four years”.
“Kelly O’Donnell’s lifelong dental practice became private in 2021 and the 41-year-old has searched for a new NHS dentist since then without success“.
“The mother-of-four from Bethel near Caernarfon, Gwynedd, says seeing a dentist privately “simply isn’t an option because of the high costs”.
“The Welsh government (Labour) said it did not have any definite plans to launch a second dental school in Wales, but that it was working to recruit and retain more dentists”
Also in wales via same BBC Source
“More schools face unpalatable cuts, warns union”
“Schools are laying off staff, cutting behaviour support and delaying building repairs due to a crisis in school budgets, a union has warned“
“One head teacher facing a deficit of over £100,000 said she was braced for the school’s astronomical utility bills going into winter”
“A National Association of Headteachers Cymru survey found that every member who responded said they did not have enough funding to fully meet the needs of pupils”.
“The Welsh government said it was protecting school funding as much as possible, but it said councils, not itself, set their budgets”.
Well then someone tell Anas Sarwar (though sure he is more than aware) of the state Wales are in under a Labour devolved government.
Though he Sarwar, like his boss Keir Starmer, will pass the buck onto the previous Tory government as those responsible for Wales’s current situation ,as in regards to all of the problems they Wales have , with their NHS and Education services etc.
While, with no sense of shame, he , Sarwar (and Keir Starmer) , will declare any similar (though not as bad as Wales) situations in Scotland are down to the SNP only as the devolved Scottish government .
While apparently him also expecting us to then believe that the Tories ,as the former UK government, were innocent of having any involvement in or responsibility for much of the negative impacts Scotland has suffered with our NHS and other public services .
Also Welsh Labour blamed “councils” for School funding via them, as councils, setting their own budgets for Schools. So they, Welsh Labour as the Welsh devolved government , also were and still are passing the buck onto others in them specifying that they, as the Devolved Welsh government “protected their School funding”, thus inferring the councils did not.
I sense a pattern here where Labour always assume that they can just always blame everyone else but themselves. (Yet deny that same right to the SNP)
Well that’s convenient then, for them, Labour that is, but for others not so much.
As in Labour constantly passing the buck (Blame) onto others then does nothing to rectify the actual problems that exist, which one could say, as problems seem to be a recurring pattern wherever (in the UK) Labour holds any power as a government.
So maybe the problems are more down to Labour being #BAD as a government than always , according to them, it being someone else who they, Labour, always declare as being #BAD governments.
I now see a really really really big RED flag for Scotland in the 2026 Scottish elections if people , yet again, consider lending their vote to Labour .
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