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.
The backlog
The Times claims that the backlog in England was only 290 326 and 72 793 in Scotland, at the end of June. Also, they claim that the backlog has been falling in England, while in Scotland it continues to climb and that this somehow, if true, matters more than the actual percentage of the population waiting.
According to the BMA, in September 2024, the NHS in England had 7.57 million cases on its waiting list which is about 6.34 million patients. This was the first time since February that the overall waiting list had decreased.1
Also from the BMA in September 2024, NHS Scotland, serving one-tenth of the population, had 636 2382 one-tenth of the waiting list.
So, assuming we can trust the NHS England figures, the backlogs in England and Scotland are the same, neither is ‘lagging.’
*Why might we not trust the NHS England figures?
Royal College tells NHS England to copy NHS Scotland and tell the truth3
BBC Scotland has accused NHS England of fiddling the figures by selection which departments are included 4
NHS England starts the clock again after patients are admitted while NHS Scotland counts from arrival in A&E5
Sources:
- https://www.bma.org.uk/advice-and-support/nhs-delivery-and-workforce/pressures/nhs-backlog-data-analysis#:~:text=The%20latest%20Referral%20to%20Treatment,individual%20patients%20waiting%20for%20treatment
- https://www.bma.org.uk/advice-and-support/nhs-delivery-and-workforce/pressures/nhs-backlog-data-analysis#:~:text=Waiting%20times%20have%20rocketed,for%20them%20in%20social%20care.
- https://www.rcem.ac.uk/docs/Policy/Summer%20to%20Recover.pdf
- https://fullfact.org/health/fiddled-accident-emergency-statistics/
- https://inews.co.uk/news/health/nhs-england-covering-up-true-scale-of-12-hour-hospital-
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 