By stewartb
There is a pattern here: there are longstanding, persistent efforts designed to ensure voters in Scotland won’t know this basic fact: NHS Scotland has long delivered by far the best A&E waiting times performance in the four nations, notwithstanding its acknowledged shortcomings during a seriously challenging period for the NHS across the UK.
Leaders of the British Labour Party are unrelenting in their negativity about NHS Scotland: presumably they consider this will deliver electoral advantages. Fair enough you may argue: the party is in opposition in Scotland after all. However, it’s the vitriol exhibited in Labour’s politicisation of NHS issues in Scotland that is notable. And worse still is the hypocrisy on display given the performance failings of NHS Wales, long the responsibility of the very same British Labour Party governing in Cardiff within the constraints of devolved power.
Amplified by BBC Scotland
The BBC News website (January 7) responds to the latest release of A&E waiting times data by Public Health Scotland (PHS) with this headline: ‘‘Flu cases put ‘very high pressure’ on NHS Scotland’.
The BBC dutifully amplified this political contribution without comment: ‘‘Scottish Labour’s health spokesperson Dame Jackie Baillie said the SNP was setting “all the wrong records” for Scotland’s NHS. She added: “For thousands of Scots, the festive season meant a harrowing wait of more than 12 hours in A&E” and “Rather than using the rest of the year to prepare for winter pressures, the SNP’s complacency has plunged our NHS into chaos.”
What triggered the BBC article?
Before offering evidence to justify the charge of hypocrisy, it’s worth considering what the latest PHS release actually reported and wonder why specifically this triggered a BBC News article and one framed in a wholly negative manner.
On attendances in November 2024: ‘There were 126,271 unplanned attendances at A&E in NHSScotland (compared to 132,154 the previous month, and 127,395 monthly average for 2023)’ – so the number of attendances in wintery November were lower than the average for the whole of 2023: might this be a notable, positive finding?
(Erroneously, the BBC News article has this in its reporting of the PHS data release: ‘Figures showed November 2024 as the worst November on record with over 83,000 Scots attending the emergency room and less than two-thirds dealt with in the targeted time.’ There were 126,271 attendances, not 83,000!)
On the four-hour standard in November: ’Compliance with the 4-hour A&E access standard: 83,035 (65.8%) of A&E attendances were seen and resulted in a subsequent admission, transfer or discharge within 4 hours (compared to 87,875 (66.5%) the previous month, and 88,637 (69.6%) monthly average for 2023)’ – OK, so not an improvement in the month of November but hardly justifies the term ‘plunging’!
On over 8 hour waits: ‘14,758 (11.9%) patients spent more than 8 hours in A&E (compared to 16,218 (12.5%) the previous month, and 12,287 (9.9%) monthly average for 2023)’ – so November was better than October.
On over 12 hour waits: ‘6,683 (5.4%) patients spent more than 12 hours in A&E (compared to 7,674 (5.9%) the previous month, and 4,914 (4%) monthly average for 2023)’ – again, November was better than October.
The PHS data release also reports performance for the week ending 29 December 2024: this concerns ‘emergency departments’ only (EDs – the main facilities most would associate with A&E):
On attendances in the week: ‘There were 23,986 unplanned attendances at EDs in NHS Scotland (compared to 26,466 the previous week, and 25,186 weekly average for 2023)’ – is this not all positive?
On the four hour standard: ‘14,003 (58.4%) of ED attendances were seen and resulted in a subsequent admission, transfer or discharge within 4 hours (compared to 15,014 (56.7%) the previous week, and 16,607 (65.9%) weekly average for 2023)’ – so the last week in December was better than the previous week.
On over eight hour waits: ‘3,860 (16.1%) patients spent more than 8 hours in an Emergency Department (compared to 4,646 (17.6%) the previous week, and 2,768 (11%) weekly average for 2023)’ – again, better in the final week of December 2024 than the previous week.
On over 12 hour waits: ’1,642 (6.8%) patients spent more than 12 hours in an Emergency Department (compared to 2,118 (8%) the previous week, and 1,112 (4.4%) weekly average for 2023)’ – yet again, better in the final week of December 2024 than the previous week.
Now two data points don’t make for a trend. But what triggered this BBC News article at this time? Mindful of the actual PHS data, I challenge a ‘fair’ reader of the BBC article to find any semblance of positivity in it.
And in any event, given the pressures faced for some time now by the NHS in England, NI, Scotland and Wales, are these performance statistics for Scotland exceptionally bad or a little worse or indeed better than its peers? If other statistics on matters associated with outcomes and impacts of public policy in Scotland merit the publication of comparative assessments by BBC Scotland and the wider mainstream media ‘serving’ us (e.g. ‘drug deaths’) why not A&E performance? Is there a preference for amplifying negatives and omitting positives? Another pattern? Bias by omission?
What the Royal College of Emergency Medicine reports
The RCEM is a ‘ go to’ source of comment on A&E waiting time for the BBC and others in the mainstream news media. This what the RCEM has just published (January 7, 2025) about long waits in NHS Scotland in a statement entitled: ‘A&Es ‘in crisis’ amid winter freeze and flu admission surge – Emergency Departments in Scotland are struggling against the combined pressures of extreme weather and a rise in hospital admissions from flu.’
It provides this: ‘The Health Secretary’s comments come as data released today, Tuesday 7 January 2025 by Public Health Scotland revealed last November 6,429 patients waited 12 hours or more in Emergency Departments – the highest proportion of 12 hour waits for any November since records began in 2011.’
The RCEM statement opts not to provide a percentage of attendances experiencing long waits: this is a notable omission when compared to other RCEM press releases on NHS Wales and NHS England.
Recall that PHS has just reported that 5.4% of attendances spent over 12 hours (all A&E sites) in November, 2024. Now that wasn’t so hard to give!
The RCEM on January 3, 2025 had a statement on its website with this headline: ‘Government must address ‘immediate crisis’ in Emergency Departments’.
It notes: ‘The data, released today (Thursday 19 December 2024) by the Welsh Government showed in November nearly a quarter (23.3%) of people waited eight hours or longer and more than one in seven (14.7%) waited 12 hours or longer in Emergency Departments across the country.’ Recall: the equivalent figures from PHS for NHS Scotland: 11.9% over 8 hours and 5.4% over 12 hours. These are big differences – it’s impossible to believe that Jackie Baillie and her favoured media outlets don’t know the nature and significance of these!
It seems appropriate to repeat this from Baillie, amplified in the BBC News article: ‘the SNP was setting “all the wrong records” for Scotland’s NHS. She added: “For thousands of Scots, the festive season meant a harrowing wait of more than 12 hours in A&E. “Rather than using the rest of the year to prepare for winter pressures, the SNP’s complacency has plunged our NHS into chaos.”
On comparing the performance of NHS Wales under Labour with that of NHS Scotland under the SNP, these remarks from the British Labour Party’s health spokesperson in Scotland bring to remind the old maxim: ‘what’s good for the goose is good for the gander’!
The RCEM issued a statement on December 12, 2024 under the heading: ‘Lack of political focus on winter UEC crisis ‘deeply concerning’
It notes: ‘Separate A&E performance data also released today by NHSE (NHS England) show that in England last month, 150,696 patients waited 12 hours or more in major EDs – the second highest for any November on record. This equates to more than one in every 10 attendances.’
The NHS England source document which is entitled ‘Emergency Care Data Set (ECDS) Data October 2024 and November 2024 (Provisional) Statistical Commentary’ actually reports: ‘Of all the total attendances in November 2024, 150,696 spent more than 12 hours from arrival at A&E (10.7%).’ (I suppose 10.7% is ‘more than one in every 10’ but approximated more conventionally to ‘nearly 11%’!) Recall, the equivalent figure for NHS Scotland in November is 5.4%! This is a big difference: such a difference is longstanding but never acknowledged explicitly by the RCEM.
End note
Voters in Scotland are being subjected to relentless gaslighting by many opponents of the SNP government, opponents who are in all likelihood, allied in their ardent support of the Union. This has only been possible and sustainable by the complicity of the BBC and others in the mainstream news media: context-free, perspective-free, avoidance of comparative analyses, bias by omission of positives are the characteristics of the output from the media that supposedly ‘serves’ Scotland.
The boldness of the British Labour Party in its hypocrisy – born of its confidence that the Party’s track record in government in Wales, including its track record over delivering NHS services, will not be called out (or an explanation in mitigation properly researched for fear of undermining the Union) by BBC Scotland, STV, The Herald, The Scotsman, the Daily Record and so many others reporting Scotland – is a damning indictment of political and news journalism in the mainstream media.
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
It’s so easy to get bored by percentages and figures BUT this is dynamite and I’m about to share it on SM in the hope that it gets peace to stay long enough for folk to read it on FB. We’ll see very shortly.
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And remember that the English waiting times only start when the patient is seen, not when they actually arrive at A&E, unlike in Scotland, so their poor record is even worse than they officially admit.
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FB update. This appears to me at least to still be on my TL BUT if I try to make a comment I’m told I can’t. Also a friend who tried to share from my post got the usual message and a swift removal.
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Wes Streeting and other senior labour figures have accepted donations from private health companies
Wes Streeting announce his plan to cut waiting times involved using private health providers
Some parts of the media (phone ins, articles) offers a supportive slant with arguments like “people don’t care whether it is a NHS or private doctor operating on them, they just want/need to be better/who can blame them” building the case that anyone arguing against using private providers is a callous monster or mad idealist
In Scotland opposition parties and most of the press try really really hard to get the SNP to admit the NHS is in crisis, broken beyond repair. They demand answers, how is John Swinney going to tackle this? Without any analysis of UK labour’s plan (will it work?) they quote Labour’s ambitious timescales and compare to a more cautious Scottish timetable IF THEY DON’T USE PRIVATE PROVIDERS
Readers here understand this, other people are reporting on it, NHS workers are campaigning to save the NHS but BBC Scotland prefers a more one sided story
I wonder why?
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Liebare health spokesperson Damn Jaikie Belly said, ” It’s broken, innit?”
BBC Scotchland said, “Tell us more!”
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I have complained to the BBC about the failure of Damn Jaikie Bailout to maintain her levels of misinformation/Lies about the Scottish NHS ; her levels of vitriol have dropped markedly over the Festive period when compared with her continually high level of abuse earlier in the year . Her high level of 99.9% of ignorance of the facts has fallen dramatically to less than 99.5% .
The lack of more apocalyptic language in recent diatribes has also been noticed together with her refusal to call for the head of Alfredo Gar …the Scottish Health Secretary more than three times in two minutes in a single interview .
The statistics are stark and show a purblind politician who fails to stick the knife in enough to the SNP when , clearly , a distraction from the continuing woes of the English/Welsh NHS is urgently required .
Having accepted a Damnhood from her Westminster masters this lady (?) is in serious danger of becoming a liability to the Private Healthcare businesses which so generously fund her Westminster bosses .
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When BBC Uk is trying desperately to playdown the fact that 7 NHS Trusts in England have declared critical incidents by telling us that there were 30 Trusts in similar positions last year so I guess that is considered a positive. They did however also manage to name Neil Gray the Scottish Health Minister but of course no mention of any other minsters in rUK. Stranger still is that STV did not have this as their main news item at all which tells us all about the BBC. If that is not depressing enough there appears little reposte coming from the Scottish Government to this clear and persistent negativity.
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