By Professor John Robertson OBA

Today in the National:

JUNIOR doctors in Scotland have accepted an 11% pay rise, totalling £64.1 million, the Scottish Government has said. Resident doctors – the new preferred moniker for junior medics – and dentists in training will see an 8.5% increase backdated to April of this year and a further 2.3% rise effective from October 1, a cumulative rise of 11%. 

Health Secretary Neil Gray (above) said: “I am very pleased that resident doctors and dentists in training have voted to accept the Scottish Government’s pay offer. This demonstrates how much we value them and ensures that NHS Scotland remains the place of choice to work and train.”

_{https://www.thenational.scot/news/24740514.scottish-junior-doctors-accept-11-per-cent-pay-rise/}

In April 2024:

More than 50 days of NHS strikes in England, and counting, the Guardian today reports:

Almost 10 million people across England could be waiting for an NHS appointment or treatment, 2 million more than previously estimated, according to a survey by the Office for National Statistics.

The ONS survey of about 90,000 adults found that 21% of patients were waiting for a hospital appointment or to start receiving treatment on the NHS.

When extrapolated, this equates to 9.7 million people. In January, the waiting list stood at 7.6 million, according to official NHS statistics.

^{https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/apr/03/almost-10-million-people-in-england-could-be-on-nhs-waiting-list}

The Guardian report does not, of course, offer the figures for Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.

Public Health Scotland, on 27 February 2024 (latest figures), suggests:

At 31 December 2023, there were 525,180 patient waits that were still ongoing.

^{https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/nhs-waiting-times-stage-of-treatment/stage-of-treatment-waiting-times-inpatients-day-cases-and-new-outpatients-quarter-ending-31-december-2023/}

With 10 times the population, all things being equal, NHS England might have been expected to have around 5 million patients waiting but had nearly 10 million, twice as many, pro rata.

I confidently suggest that not one single media outlet in Scotland would ever tell you that.

How ‘deadly’ were these strikes?

From the BMJ in April 2023:

The media reported that during the first round of junior doctor strike action in England, mortality was 11.1% above the five year average.

How many health strikes have the SNP leaders averted now? 10? More? Well, all of them.

How many lives have they saved? Hundreds? Thousands?