NHS England’s ‘alarming decline’ in 12 key metrics being averted by SNP Government – Stillbirth, ‘The Canary in the Coalmine’

By Professor John Robertson OBA

Thanks once more to Dottie for alerting me to this.

In the Guardian today:

Darzi [Prof Lord Ara Darzi, the surgeon and former health minister ] said there had been “alarming declines” in 12 key metrics of patient safety in England since 2022. They include maternity care, in which there are growing rates of stillbirth, babies dying during or soon after they are born and also women dying while giving birth.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/dec/12/nhs-spends-147bn-a-year-treating-patients-in-england-hurt-by-care-mistakes-says-report

The stillbirth rate in Scotland in 2023 was 3.7 per 1 000 births, the same as in 2022 and having fallen steadily from 4.2 in 2020 (during Covid) and from 5.6 in 2007 when the SNP took power. https://webarchive.nrscotland.gov.uk/20241202123823/https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/

In England and Wales, the latest figure, for 2022, is 4.0 per 1 000, up from 3.9 in 2019. https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/livebirths/datasets/birthsummarytables

Remember, this apparently small difference of 0.3 per 1 000, means 1 632 fewer stillbirths in Scotland and 18 000 more in England & Wales.

Stillbirth rates are known as a ‘canary in the coalmine.’ When they increase, it tells you something is wrong in a society and especially so for women who are disadvantaged.

Why might Scotland have a lower rate?

The Child Payment, free prescriptions, more affordable housing, lower council tax, lower crime, more midwives, more health visitors and cleaner hospitals after 20 Oct 2008 when Scottish Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon announced the move to end outsourcing of catering, cleaning and porter services across all NHS …https://www.nursingtimes.net/archive/scotland-axes-outsourced-hospital-cleaning-20-10-2008/

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

Discover more from Talking-up Scotland

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

2 thoughts on “NHS England’s ‘alarming decline’ in 12 key metrics being averted by SNP Government – Stillbirth, ‘The Canary in the Coalmine’”

  1. “Why might Scotland have a lower rate” ?

    Well although you list the reasons, the sad fact is that these same reasons and also the fact that Scotland does indeed have a “lower rate” in stillbirths , is then not something that any of the British media will want to publicise, as in reveal, in their media output within Scotland.

    So this , as well as other matters , where Scotland does far better than other nations within the UK, will remain something some people within Scotland will still be oblivious to , unless they stop reading, listening to and watching MSM’s output and then start to seek out alternate truth as in news elsewhere.

    Also if they, as a public within Scotland, stop listening to those other parties in opposition to the SNP, where the fact that they are parties in opposition to the SNP is the main and also crucial factor as to why they oppose everything and anything in respect to the SNP as a party and as the current Scottish government.

    Then and only then will they , as people in Scotland, then start to make better choices as in who they should elect in subsequent elections from now.

    Coincidentally with you covering this maternity story today , well the BBC yesterday also had a maternity story as their top story in their Edinburgh Fife & East page (it was also on their Scottish politics page too) with a headline that stated :

    “Mothers came to harm at maternity unit says report”

    Which the article said was about how “Mothers and newborn babies came to harm because of staffing shortages and a “toxic” culture at Edinburgh’s maternity unit, according to a whistleblowing investigation seen by BBC News”.

    So it does seem somewhat coincidental that a negative story relating to maternity care within English hospitals should then prompt the BBC to then publish on the Scottish pages of their website a negative story relating to maternity care within Scotland, obviously not a coincidence but very much a deliberate action by the BBC that is typical of them to do for everything when it comes to Scotland versus other parts of the UK.

    As the BBC can never ever promote that Scotland is better compared to the rest of the UK for anything !

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  2. Pingback: Why has there been a massive but unreported reduction in the number of children on the child protection register in Scotland and a widening gap with the other 3 nations? – Talking-up Scotland

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.