By Professor John Robertson OBA
Many thanks to AR for alerting me to this.
Two days ago, the Times had an extended report, widely copied across the media and exciting Unionist voices, to suggest that NHS Scotland is actually lagging behind NHS England, on the overall backlog, cancer waiting times and A&E waiting times.
I’ll tackle them one at a time.
A&E waiting times
The Times claims that in September 2024 65.9% were seen within 4 hours in Scotland and 72.4% were seen in that time in NHS England.
They’re confused or dishonest.
Looking at the published data, from Public Health Scotland, we see that in September 2024, 69.4% were seen within 4 hours across ‘All’ A&E units, including those in small ‘cottage’ hospitals, and that 65.9% were seen in the full, consultant-led emergency departments, ‘ED’.1
From NHS England, for ‘All’ units, including those in small ‘cottage’ hospitals, the figure was 74.2% but, crucially for the full, Type 1, consultant-led units, the figure was only 59.8%, around 10% worse than in Scotland.2
That 10% matters. It relates to around 40 000 people in England waiting longer and 4 000 in Scotland seen quicker.
The Times authors, stupidly or deliberately have compared the English ‘All’ data with the Scottish full, ED, data to misrepresent the truth.
Sources:
- https://publichealthscotland.scot/healthcare-system/urgent-and-unscheduled-care/accident-and-emergency/interactive-charts/how-long-people-spend-in-ae/
- https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ae-waiting-times-and-activity/ae-attendances-and-emergency-admissions-2024-25/
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' 
It’s not looking good at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary this weekend. I think they have over centralised the system. Too wide an area for one hospital.
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Also note from the NHS England data, the Type 1 result for October is 58.1%, so getting worse –
“58.1% of patients were admitted, transferred or discharged within 4 hours in Type 1 A&E departments compared with 59.8% in September 2024, and 55.9% in October 2023.”
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