By Professor John Robertson OBA
From Public Health Scotland on 24 November 2024, the above graph showing a reducing number waiting for diagnostic tests for the last three quarters, a steady fall since the peak in early 2022, and this for the quarter ending 30 September 2024 [most recent data]:
When compared to the previous quarter-end, six of the eight key diagnostic tests saw a decrease in the number of ongoing waits reported. Waits for a CT scan showed a reduction of 11% (-3,104), colonoscopy waits reduced by 11% (-1,433), non-obstetric ultrasound reduced by 9% (-5,122), and MRI waits reduced by 5% (-1,362). On the other hand, small increases were seen for cystoscopy (+5%, +269), and barium studies (+10%, +29).
Meanwhile in England, 5 months into a UK Labour government promising reductions to waiting times, this from the Guardian today:
Hiring freeze at dozens of NHS cancer and diagnostic units despite rising referrals – Royal College of Radiologists calls move ‘shortsighted’ and says it puts Labour’s waiting times plan at risk.
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Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
A Welsh Health Board has asked NHS England to delay treatment (11 extra weeks or longer) to patients who live in Wales to save money.
Imagine the howling bleats from the Brit Nits if this was in Scotland?
Wonder what Dame Jaikie has to say? Will BBC Hootsmon ask? How will this be spun by the colonial mejah to blame the “Nats”?
gavinochiltree
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The immediate response from those in Scotland still minded to support the British Labour Party to this information that ‘Welsh Health Board has asked NHS England to delay treatment …‘ might be ‘fake news’.
How could this possibly be true within an NHS for which a Labour government is responsible? How could it be true under the party of Dame Jackie Baillie – the Labour spokesperson with the cure to all NHS Scotland’s ills – and in particular when Labour is in power in both Westminster and Cardiff? But then the BBC is reporting it, so it must be true!
BBC News website (January 10, 2025) ‘Welsh patients may wait longer for care in England’ (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gzgygxd5no )
‘A Welsh health board may ask the NHS in England to delay the care it gives to patients living in Wales to save money. (my emphasis)
‘It means hospital waiting times could be extended by up to 11 weeks or longer for people in Powys, where some patients receive treatment from NHS England, because the county is close to the border between the two countries.
‘Powys Teaching Health Board (PTHB) did not make a final decision when they met on Friday to discuss the changes, aimed at saving £10m, saying “exceptional action is needed” to deliver savings.’
And: ‘It could mean those living in Powys who receive treatment from hospitals in England could deliberately be made to wait longer for care.’
A patient is quoted: “They’ve said at the Senedd that they’re hoping to get waiting lists down by sending people over the border to England. These plans in Powys go against that.” Adding: “Powys isn’t the place to get old. It’s a forgotten county.” (I suspect if about Scotland, BBC Scotland could not have resisted using this quote in its headline!)
A spokesperson for Powys Teaching Health Board PTHB is quoted: “Exceptional action is needed to deliver a further £9.9m savings so that we can achieve the financial targets with Welsh government.”
No politician – whether in the Welsh Government or in opposition in the Senedd – was asked for or offered comment on this BBC news story. It is not politicised as such a story would undoubtedly be in Scotland. The British Labour Party’s representatives in Scotland with the aid of BBC Scotland and others in the mainstream media would have seen to it!
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The Royal College of Emergency Medicine has commented on the latest NHS England release of performance data for A&E waits in December 2024.
RCEM (January 9, 2025) ‘How has this been allowed to happen again?: RCEM demands answers as winter crisis deepens’.
It states: ‘We are experiencing a national ‘A&E emergency’, patients are at risk and some will die. And let’s be clear, these are deaths which are ultimately preventable if the correct action is taken. But it cannot by solely blamed on flu – the system was fragile going into winter.
“The government cannot allow this to be repeated. We must never see again vulnerable people exposed to this level of danger, and poor care.”
It reports: ‘Separate A&E performance data also released today by NHSE show that in England in December 2024, 166,989 patients waited 12 hours or more in major EDs – this is over a 10% increase compared to November, as well as December 2023. This equates to almost one in every eight attendances.’
This equates to 12.0% of attendances in December 2024. (From ‘Supplementary ECDS Analysis Time Series February 2023 onwards (XLS, 41.9KB)’)
Source: https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ae-waiting-times-and-activity/
From Public Health Scotland, the equivalent figures: ‘During week ending 29 December 2024: ‘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).’
Now let’s accept that NHS Scotland is not performing as we – and the Scottish Government and NHS Scotland staff and the royal colleges – would wish. But it is reprehensible – and an insult to NHS Scotland’s management and staff – IMHO that the RCEM, BBC Scotland and others in the mainstream media in Scotland persistently fail to acknowledge the substantial differences in performance.
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