By Professor John Robertson OBA
From BBC Health today and headlining across TV broadcast news today:
The government has unveiled a new pledge to cut the list of patients waiting more than 18 weeks for NHS treatment in England by nearly half a million over the next year. A key Labour election pledge, now included in the government’s six main priorities, is for 92% of patients to begin treatment or be given the all-clear within 18 weeks by the end of this Parliament.
This has been an official NHS target for some time, but has not been met since 2015. Currently, only 59% of patients meet the 18-week target, with three million people waiting longer. The latest promise is to reach 65% by March 2026, which, according to the government, would reduce the backlog by more than 450,000.
The above report does not mention the equivalent percentage for Scotland. You’ll see why.
From Public Health Scotland for the quarter ending 30 September 2024 (latest figures), 67.6% were treated within 18 weeks.
What could more clearly demonstrate the far superior performance of NHS Scotland than the Labour Party coming into government and aiming, nervously, to still do less well in a years time?
Finally, that aim of a 6% improvement for NHS England is, as the report points out, a big thing – 450 000 more seen on time. Of course, in Scotland, the current 8.6% difference means around 50-60 000 more Scots seen on time than if they had suffered a Labour Government these last 17 years.
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' 
Hope you don’t mind but I’ve just put your final paragraph on Funding the Future, by Professor Richard Murphy. Just for context, since he had an article on what the liars Starmer/Streeting intend to do in England.
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Excellent.
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