By Professor John Robertson:
Dr John Paul Loughrey of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Hot Yoga enthusiast (@Jploughrey) has no time to grapple with the the facts as he helps BBC Scotland headline with another emergency services scare story about long waits in A&E and the risk they poses, especially for the more vulnerable.
Missing from Dr Loughrey’s assessment of ultra long delays, in this BBC Scotland report, this:
First, NHS England:
THREE times as many wait more than 12 hours in England’s A&E departments
NHS England, Type one A&E, for May 2024, 138 770 waiting more than 4 hours and 42 555 waiting more than 12.
59.7% seen within 4 hours.
NHS Scotland, Type ED full A&E, for May 2024, 9 252 waiting more than 4 hours and 1 350 waiting more than 12.
66.7% seen within 4 hours
So:
All things being equal NHS England with 10 times the population might have been expected to have 92 520 waiting more than 4 hours, but had 138 770, 50% more.
And 13 500 waiting more than 12 hours but had 42 555, more than THREE times as many.
As for the A&E 4 hour waiting time, NHS Scotland is 11.7% faster.
Sources:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ae-waiting-times-and-activity/
Second, Wales:
In Labour Wales A&E nearly twice as many wait more than 8 hours and three times as many wait more than 12 hours
By stewartb
Latest update for the Labour politicians in Scotland who constantly berate the Scottish Government and NHS Scotland on A&E waiting times:
Latest on waits in the main A&E departments in the NHS in Wales – from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (https://rcem.ac.uk/summer-provides-no-respite-for-over-stretched-emergency-departments/ )
1) ’44.1% of patients (more than 2/5) waited four hours or longer (up 10.6% on April 2024)’ – so just 58.6% discharged, transferred or admitted within four hours. The RCEM reports ‘the number of patients having to wait more than four hours has almost doubled since 2017’.
2) ’23.2% (more than 1/5) of people waited more than eight hours (up 0.5% on last month)’ – ‘for eight hour waits it has tripled’
3) ’14.5% of patients (more than 1/7) had to endure waits of more than 12 hours (up 0.3% from April)’ – ‘for the longest waits of 12 hours or more the number of people as gone up four times’.
For comparison, the RCEM reported on performance data for Scotland ’s main emergency departments during April 2024 :
– 64% of patients were treated, discharged or admitted within the target time of four hours (Wales = 58.6%)
– 12.7% of attendees waited more than eight hours (Wales = 23.2%)
– 5.7% of attendees waited more than 12 hours (Wales = 14.5%).
The difference in performance between NHS Wales and NHS Scotland’s emergency departments is marked. To what question is Labour the right, the best answer for Scotland?
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
BBC Scotland are desperate to get the SNP to declare the NHS is in crisis, as are the unionist parties at Holyrood. Is this the magic phrase needed to increase privatisation openly and to quell any dissent? This seems to be an argument we need to get folk talking about – what is actually happening and why, what are the options, can we go one way if England chooses to go another?
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Scotland can only go their own way with independence as said and done. Without it, Scotland is hostage to whatever England wants, votes for and decides is good for them.
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Meant all said and done.
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Nothing for Scotland.
Politics latest: PM announces £22bn in climate funding to ‘reignite industrial heartlands’
Sir Keir Starmer and his top ministers are in the North West where they are announcing up to £22bn in funding for carbon capture projects.
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BBC Scotland IS one of the parties at Holyrood and well represented there.
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22 Billion seems to be a flexible number. 22 Billion black hole to be partially filled by pensioners and the poor then, magically, 22 Billion available for the heartlands of England. How many more 22 billions will we see materialising in the near future and is this the closest to the border these billions get?
OH, just saw another 22 billion for carbon capture but too slow to catch where. According to the Guardian there will be two major carbon capture and storage clusters – one in Teesside and a second in north West England and north Wales. Called the East Coast Cluster.
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Look the BBC , as a supposed (unreliable) news source in Scotland, exist only , as a supposed (unreliable) news source in Scotland, in order for them to constantly try to ‘up the ante’ against the SNP in the run up to any election that they, the SNP, stand candidates in and that includes the up and coming 2026 Holyrood election in 2026.
That involves a Hell of a lot of #SNPBAD stories being collated (created) and then publicised and the BBC will source these stories from anywhere and from anyone.
However the only actual real opposition the BBC has as a British corporation against the SNP as a political party and also as the current Scottish government is the fact that they , the SNP, are recognised to be currently the (most prominent Indy) party in Scotland who wants to take Scotland away from Britain’s control .
So in order to try and prevent that happening then the BBC , as part of a combined media and political (Pro) British movement, must (like other media) relentless pursue and constantly promote the SNP, as being a party and a government, who are inept, somewhat suspect and so not worth voting for in Scotland.
(The part where the Labour governments in Wales & now also in England/UK too are to be seen as being inept, suspect and so not worth voting for is apparently the part that we in Scotland are supposed to be unaware of , and if we are aware of those facts we are then supposed to disregard them- as was exactly the same when the Tories were formerly in charge of England/UK).
The BBC will never ever ever, as a British corporation, stop attacking the SNP.
(Or indeed any other party who support independence and who are , in the future, seen to also be a threat to the continued supposed ‘Unity’ of Britain as a fake (Dis)united country).
As once it was said , in regards to the BBC being biased against Scottish independence, “That’s their job”.
(And so part of that job is then to also be biased against any political party who supports independence too- but only if they are seen, by the BBC and others, to be either an immediate or a future threat to Britain/UK remaining intact as a state).
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Is there a chance that they’re trying to build up resources in England, rather than ‘wasting money’ on Scotland? I’m hoping so because that’s actually quite promising, in a way. I think they know they’re going to lose access to Scotland’s resources
It looks to me like the report we never got to see was even more frightening (from their perspective) than we guessed. Sorry, I forget that description applies to so many… I mean the ‘State of the Union’ one. As if there’s been a realisation that the union is in a right state – and therefore England’s going to be.
Since it wasn’t published, I feel like they’ve been dropping “pool and share” – ie Scottish – stuff to build their “own” – ie English. They’ve coasted along not doing things for decades.
They stopped training apprentices, nurses etc, because it was cheaper and easier to import ‘ready made’ from elsewhere. (“Cheaper and easier to let them do the hard work and us benefit. Tee hee.”)
They cut down food for internal consumption. Not Scotch, beef, seafood etc. Wash your mouth out – that’s for export! (More “cheaper and easier to let them do the hard work and us benefit. Tee hee.”)
They took Scotland’s coal, oil, gas, people, rather than develop their own. Cut down expenditure on long-term storage etc. Plus the Scottish education system’s much better and hasn’t been degraded in the same way – so a better workforce. (Even more “cheaper and easier to let them do the hard work and us benefit. Tee hee.”)
Also, I feel there’s been an intensification of bad-mouthing Scots in general. I’ve noticed more commenters btl saying “if we’re so bad, why not let us go? Yeah. We’ve still got things they want”.
I think it’s priming the ‘British’ public so they can say “We did our best with them, but it was hopeless. They’ve been nothing but a burden. They’re chippy, ignorant of how the world works and they hate us. They’re ungrateful for our help. We don’t need the hassle and we’re better off without them.
“But they’ll be sorry. If they think we’re going to help, they’re mistaken. They’re on their own. They’ll come running back when they make a mess of it.”
And, speaking as a person of English origin, I’m embarrassed to say that many English will say “Yeah. Too right. We’ll show ’em. Make it as hard as we can for ’em. Serve ’em right.” But that’s how propaganda works isn’t it? Sometimes I despair…
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Good comment. I’d like to think the bit about EngGov starting to invest in their own stuff and defunding Scotland at the same time is because they want their sovereignty back 😉
‘Take back control’ and all that as if they ever gave that up for anyone anywhere.
Not so sure though they are acunning lot, sleekit. By removing £’s from Scotland and saying manage on what’s left and be grateful Scotland, and also asset stripping Scotland
they are also paving the way to dismantle the Scottish parliament, and taking ‘back control’ of Scotland and Scotland’s vast and ever more lucrative resources. It could be either, and I know what you mean about folks in England, I have friends and family there who still think they pay for Scotland’s NHS and free prescriptions and all the perks (lol) handed to Scotland by them. Sigh. My family in independent Australia absolutely never want to discuss anything to do with Scotland’s independence, no doubt we are all just the ‘UK’ to them, though they left the ‘UK’ for much much better standards of living many years ago!
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UNIONISM HAS DROPPED TO BOTTOM OF MORAL SESPIT
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