The Talking-up Scotland fund raiser primarily to enable the recruitment of some research assistance, in order to take pressure off me [74 in June and tiring] and hopefully to further improve the blog, has made a good start. To contribute, only if you can (!) go to: Talking-up Scotland - a Politics crowdfunding project in Ayr by Professor John Robertson
By Professor John Robertson OBA, former Faculty Research Ethics Chair, UWS
It’s constant, I’m sure you know, this kind of thing with Sarwar, Baillie and others frothing over selective figures:
From Hospital Standardised Mortality Ratios October 2023 to September 2024 published today, clear evidence of an important recovery, that really matters and so will be ignored.
In December 2019, just before the Covid-19 pandemic struck, the mortality rate in Scotland’s hospitals was 3.1% and the latest figure for September 2024, after steady regular improvement, was 2.9%. Now remember that 0.2% of the around 250 000 treated, means 5 000 more patients saved, per year.
Note that Glasgow’s supposedly ‘troubled‘ QEUH had an even better ratio, despite its particularly challenging catchment, of 2.5%. So how does a ‘troubled’ hospital have a lower than average mortality ratio?
Source:
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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
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Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
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I see there is either an Alphabet Troll or someone trying to communicate a cryptic message via adding various individual letters of the Alphabet onto different postings on this site.
Either that or they keep getting interrupted trying to add a comment and so they only get as far as adding one letter, or maybe they just need a new device .
Very strange and also a lesson in persistence.
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Ha Ha
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None here are under any illusions as to the dishonesty of the media when reporting on any facet of Scotland’s NHS, your example of ” ‘troubled‘ QEUH ” perfectly illustrating the point – Despite the relentless political propaganda from BBC Scotland et al, QEUH’s reputation for excellence continues undiminished to this day – If any are deserving of the tagline ‘troubled’, it is Sarah Smith and her successor, BBC Scotland’s credibility is shot.
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This unionist media relentless dissing of the efforts of the NHS staff at ALL our hospitals should have consequences for those political parties who echo these lies .
Sarwar , Baillie and Gulhane have ZERO respect for the hard working staff within our hospitals otherwise they would cease their constant undermining of their efforts to deliver for the Public . They are political opportunists of the vilest kind !
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There was a btl post here the other day regarding a Holyrood Magazine article (February 10) which made reference to a recent report from the IFS on NHS Scotland. Quoting a senior figure from the IFS, the article had this: … ‘although Phillips says there are some signs of recovery in England’s NHS based on available data.’
Presumably the IFS was unaware of this press statement from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (February 6, 2025)headlined: ‘No sign of winter pressures easing as A&Es continue to bear the brunt of a gridlocked system.’
‘New data released today by NHS England show that last week, almost 95 out of every 100 in-patient beds (94.7%) in major hospitals in England were occupied, and when this is narrowed to adult beds in major hospitals, that figure rises to 96%.’
And: ‘The figures, which cover 27 January – 2 February 2025, are part of NHSE’s weekly ‘situation reports’. Released today – 6 February 2025 – they show: ‘An average of 13, 776 patients each day who were deemed medically well enough to leave, were stuck in hospital last week waiting to be discharged. That is 350 more than last week and is the highest average so far this winter.
– ‘A total of 26,211 hours were lost to ambulance delays over 30 minutes, which is equivalent to more than three years.
– ‘There were 961 patients a day in hospital with Norovirus last week. Cases have increased by 7% compared to last week and are 69% higher than the same time last year.’
Perhaps we should we be reassured that NHS Scotland and its responsible government seem to be held to so much higher standards! It would be good if the critics acknowledged this openly though!
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