By Professor John Robertson OBA
In the Guardian today:
Plans to end NHS dental care crisis not working, warns spending watchdog – National Audit Office finds ‘significant uncertainty’ as to whether pledge for extra 1.5m treatments will be fulfilled. Plans to end the deepening crisis in access to NHS dental care are failing, leaving patients unable to get treatment, according to a warning from the government’s spending watchdog.
The National Audit Office’s (NAO) damning verdict on the “dental recovery plan” prompted patient groups to voice alarm that people’s struggles with decayed teeth represents “a serious public health concern”. A pledge to provide an extra 1.5m treatments in England this year is in disarray amid falls in both the number of dentists doing NHS work and people receiving help from them.
It’s difficult to see how Scottish voters can be attracted to the idea of Labour regime at Holyrood unless, of course, the MSM help them to conceal the fasts.
Which facts? Just these ones:
From Public Health Scotland in August 2024:
5,176,332 people were registered with an NHS dentist as at 30 June 2024 (94.5% of the Scottish population).
621,767 extensive clinical examinations were paid in the quarter ending 30 June 2024 under the new pay arrangements. In total, over 1.7million have been undertaken since the NHS dental payment reform was introduced.1
In England:
Since the current dental contract was introduced in 2006, there has been no system of registration for dentistry in England. This means that, unlike with GPs, patients can attend any dentist that provides NHS services for a course of treatment.2
‘Can?’ What percentage did?
As of June 30, 2023, 43% of adults in England had seen an NHS dentist in the previous 24 months, and 56% of children had seen an NHS dentist in the previous 12 months. 3
In a 2023 survey by the British Dental Association, over half of dentists [in England] who responded said they had reduced the amount of NHS work they do since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Almost three quarters said they were intending to reduce, or further reduce, their NHS commitment in 2023.4
r than the 94.6% in Scotland. So access to NHS dentistry in Scotland 21% higher (16.6% of 78) than in UK.
Sources:
- https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/nhs-dental-data-monitoring-report/nhs-dental-data-monitoring-report-quarter-ending-june-2024/
- https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9597/
- https://www.healthwatch.co.uk/news/2023-08-24/annual-nhs-dental-statistics-england-our-response#:~:text=New%20figures%20published%20today%20in%20the%20annual,months%2C%20still%20below%20pre%2Dpandemic%20levels%20of%2059%.
- https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9597/#:~:text=The%20number%20of%20dentists%20per,their%20NHS%20commitment%20in%202023.
Finally – From a UK Parliament report in 2023:
1 in 5 Britons (22%) are currently not “registered” with a dentist. Of those who were not “registered” 37% said this was because they couldn’t find an NHS dentist.
Only 78% in UK registered, 16.6% lower than the 94.6% in Scotland. So access to NHS dentistry in Scotland 21% higher (16.6% of 78) than in UK.
Support Scots Independent, Scotland’s oldest pro-independence newspaper and host of the OBA (Oliver Brown Award) at: https://scotsindependent.scot/FWShop/shop/
The Oliver Brown Award for advancing the cause of Scotland’s self respect, previously awarded to Dr Philippa Whitford, Alex Salmond and Sean Connery: https://scotsindependent.scot/?page_id=116
About Oliver Brown, the first Scottish National Party candidate to save his deposit in a Parliamentary election: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Brown_(Scottish_activis
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
Would you buy second hand teeth from this man?
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John, you need to stop telling Anus where he is going wrong. Never interrupt your enemy while they’re making a mistake.
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You know the real enigma in all of this is the following:
As a devolved government , the Scottish government are expected to work miracles as one who has limited (restrictive) powers and no potential to borrow money .
They are also apparently expected to exceed the English performance in their NHS to include Dentistry , when the English service is run by the UK government who has the majority of the powers and also has the potential to borrow money to fund more services.
Then this is also , post 2014, the same Scotland which as part of the UK , was assured in 2014 , that as part of the UK it would be a scenario that represented, for Scotland, a Better Together situation as us still being a nation within their UK.
Yet all that our democratically elected Scottish government is now subjected to is a barrage of criticism and no support from any UK sources, in fact since Brexit in 2016, Scotland will lose powers it formally had to the UK government taking (back) control of those powers.
It seems the real enigma Scotland is in, is that it finds itself always in a no win situation as part of the UK.
Never will any media or pro UK politicians give any credit to Scotland for achieving better results in public services than other nations within the UK, indeed it will be ‘like pulling teeth’ in expecting any credit or kudos to be given to Scotland outperforming other nations within UK on public services.
The mission impossible for Sarwar will always be to try to stop the decay Scotland has seen as a result of different UK governments which have built up over many years , and he may try to give the impression that he is someone whose image is a veneer of respectability as a politician, but all that he is actually doing, as a Labour branch office manager in Scotland, is merely filling in for the UK government and UK PM as him being their UK man in Scotland.
End of dental references, and I hope too with Labour UK making so many bad decisions that it will also be the end of Sarwar’s ambition to be the next Scottish (INO) FM.
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This is the latest quarterly report for NHS Dentistry in Scotland published yesterday by Public Health Scotland. Looks like things are holding up alright in Scotland
https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/nhs-dental-data-monitoring-report/nhs-dental-data-monitoring-report-quarter-ending-september-2024/
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O/T Long read but not all my words.
Here is a classic example of all things wrong with the corrupt and tainted UK media.
Peter Osborne , now an apparent enlightened member of the media, and so determined to do the job as per his job description as one who considers himself to be a real and honest journalist , has written an article for the Middle East Eye.
This article exposes the hypocrisy and double standards of the UK media , many of whom are compromised by their allegiance to respective UK political parties, and so as such are complicit in obscuring those things that these political parties prefer to be kept hidden but also promote the things these political parties support.
So this article is entitled:
“Why the uproar over Allison Pearson, when pro-Palestinian journalists are ignored”
Why indeed , though I think we all know why.
He writes that “last month Asa Winstanley, a well-known pro- Palestinian journalist with the Electronic Intifada , home was raided by the Met police who seized his devices under the provisions of the UK Terrorism Act 2006”.
“This followed the detention at Heathrow Airport of Richard Medhurst and the arrest of Sarah Wilkinson in August; both journalists have reported on the Gaza war”.
“This is part of a pattern of harassment of pro-Palestine activists in Britain. Police told Winstanley that the raid on his house was part of something called ‘Operation Incessantness’ ”.
He then added that “Not a single national news outlet in the UK, with the exception of the Morning Star and the National in Scotland, has reported on the policing of British pro-Palestinian journalists, or on the threat this poses to media freedom”
Yet in comparison the media coverage on the Daily Telegraph columnist Alison Pearson who was visited by police on the morning of 10 November. According to her original account, which has since changed, police told her she was accused of a “non-crime hate incident” for a post on X (formerly Twitter) a year ago.
Unlike pro-Palestinian journalists, her technical equipment was not seized.
“The Pearson incident has sparked a national uproar. Questions have been asked in the House of Commons. Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative Party leader has stated that police were “absolutely wrong” to visit Pearson’s home” . Elon Musk, the richest man in the world declared “This needs to stop.”
“The Telegraph splashed on the story for days on end. The Independent, Times, Mail, Express, and Sun have all highlighted the story. So has the Guardian, which in common with all the other outlets, has not mentioned the recent police targeting of pro-Palestinian journalists”.
“There has been plenty of coverage on Sky News, GB News and the BBC – including a long, sympathetic exploration of the Pearson case on the BBC 4 PM programme”.
“Meanwhile, Pearson’s story is starting to unravel. Essex police rejected her claim that she was accused of a “non-crime hate incident”. They said she was under investigation for “inciting racial hatred”, an offence under the Public Order Act. Police have complained to the UK’s media regulator of factual inaccuracies, saying that body-cam footage shows an officer telling Pearson”: “It’s gone down as an incident or offence of potentially inciting racial hatred online.”
“The investigation into Pearson appears to relate to a post directed at the Metropolitan Police on 16 November 2023. She wrote “How dare they. @metpoliceuk Invited to pose for a photo with lovely peaceful British Friends of Israel on Saturday police refused. Look at this lot smiling with the Jew haters.”
“Attached to her tweet was a photo of what Pearson thought showed police officers posing alongside Gaza marchers. In fact, her post on X appears to have been a response to a picture of Manchester police with a group of people holding the flag of the Pakistan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf political party.”
“Pearson deleted the post after her error was pointed out, but the incident led to a complaint to police.
This article by Peter Osborne clearly shows how selective (corrupt) the UK media are in deciding who and what they will report upon , support and oppose.
In Scotland we all know what many of the newspapers that Peter Osborne refers to in his article constantly try to do, in their so called ‘Scottish’ editions , of their so called newspapers.
They demonise the SNP , while as client media of different pro UK political parties , they tend to brush over (ignore) political wrongs generated by those pro UK parties they are aligned with.
Then also the various TV (so called) News channels that he, Osborne, notes in his article such as SKY News, GB News and also very much the BBC also emulate the reports and actions of that of the UK press in Scotland, in them also demonising the SNP.
Though the newspapers quoted by him in his article are not the only ones in Scotland who promote a pro UK propaganda while actively working to try to destroy support for the SNP. (We all know to whom I refer via other media/press here).
However this Alison Pearson example proves how corrupt much of the MSM really really are, so much so, that can we in Scotland ever really trust anything they report.
My opinion , which is based on articles such as this, is that is a big fat NO we cannot trust them , as they are not truly an independent media but instead are those who work hand in hand with the various UK political parties as an intrinsic part of the UK establishment , who as a media are those who do the dirty work of both publishing and broadcasting the necessary propaganda as required by the rest of the UK establishment.
The other consideration in this is that the raid on the pro Palestinian Journalist’s home by the MET police happened in October 2024 , so it was done while under a new Labour UK government , who we all know are also compromised too , as in with their allegiance to the Israel government and their lack of support to the Palestinians.
Labour Friends of Israel , so does that make then less of a friend to Palestine, seems very much so, based on their lack of action on what has happened in Gaza while they are working tirelessly as a Labour UK government in support of Israel, who they keep reminding us have a right to defend themselves, however Labour do not see other countries as having that same right to defend themselves when Israel attacks them !!!!!
So are you proud to be British , or would you prefer to only be known as Scottish ?
Well vote for Labour, Tory or Lib Dems (or other rogue fake political parties) and then your choice will not matter, as you will be force fed British nationalism by all of these political parties and their British nationalist media.
#ScottishIndependence with a future actual real Scottish media (press ,TV & Radio) .
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