By stewartb
The BMA may be a more serious, objective trade union than its lead in Scotland – based on his highly politicised statements using language designed for use in headlines by mainstream media opposed to the present Scottish Government – makes it appear!
Below are some of its analysis and insights on the state of NHS England. Not a positive picture but even. so I can’t find a BMA spokesperson claiming that NHS England is ‘dying’ – and for the avoidance of doubt, England has long had a substantial number of people using private healthcare, a number which is increasing (see market data from the Private Healthcare Information Network’s website.)
BMA (April 10, 2025) ‘NHS backlog analysis’ (See the BMA.org website.):
‘The backlog in secondary care consists of the care that the NHS would normally have delivered but which was disrupted as COVID-19 impacted service delivery.’ And: ‘It will take years to clear the backlog. The ongoing need for stringent infection prevention control measures and workforce shortages mean it will take even longer to work through as demand continues to rise.’
On consultant-led elective care: ‘High waits for treatment are not new. Prior to the pandemic in February 2020 there were already 4.57 million cases on a waiting list for consultant-led care. At the beginning of the pandemic, the combination of suspension of non-urgent services and changes to individuals’ behaviour meant that the number of people joining the waiting list initially dropped. However, this has since been rising – and despite some improvements earlier in the year, waiting times remain far higher than pre-COVID.’
On cancer treatment targets: ‘The percentage of patients receiving their first cancer treatment within two months (62-days) of an urgent referral decreased from 71.4% in March 2025 to 69.9% in April 2025. This is significantly below the operational standard of 85%. NHS England aims to reach 75% performance against the 62-day target by March 2026.
‘The poor performance against these key operational standards illustrates the level of pressure the system is under, and is a clear sign that significant investment in capacity is needed. ‘
On A&E waits: ‘The number of patients waiting over 12 hours for an emergency admission in May 2025 was about 103 times higher than in May 2019 – pre-pandemic. Note that this number represents an underestimate of actual waiting times, as patients will have been waiting for additional time before a ‘decision to admit’ was made.
‘These long waiting times are, in part, due to poor patient flow. General and acute bed occupancy has consistently been at over 90% since September 2021, and patients regularly remain in hospital despite being fit for discharge because there is no capacity for them in social care.’
On GP referrals: ‘The number of GP referrals to consultant-led outpatient services that have been unsuccessful because there are no slots available has jumped from 238,859 in February 2020 to a staggering 401,115 in November 2021 (an 87% increase).’ – I’ve never come across this particular metric before!
The role of the private sector: ‘ Enlisting the help of the private sector is one of the measures the (UK) Government has taken to reduce pressures on hospitals and help cut waiting lists.
‘The extent to which private hospitals will be able to take on NHS waiting list initiatives going forward is unclear given the increased demand in the self-pay market and the backlog of private sector patients.
‘Given that the NHS and the private sector largely draw on the same pool of doctors, additional capacity may be less than it initially appears. This was made clear in the 2020 block-booking arrangements, which saw the NHS gain facilities rather than the workforce to run them.’
From the BMA (January 2025) ‘NHS diagnostics data analysis’ – providing an analysis of the diagnostic pressures in the English NHS.
‘Demand for diagnostics services is on the rise, but a lack of infrastructure combined with staffing shortages has contributed to vast waiting lists.’
And: ‘In November 2024, around 1.6 million people in England were waiting for a diagnostic test, twice as many as in January 2006 (0.8 million), when this dataset began. This waiting list has been growing steadily since 2008, well before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
‘People are also waiting longer for tests. The NHS constitution states that patients referred for diagnostic tests should receive a test within six weeks, yet this target has not been met since February 2017.’
And: ‘Community diagnostic centres are no silver bullet’ – ‘Given existing workforce shortages, it is clear that running these centres requires more diagnostic staffing than is available. There is also a risk of redistributing workload across the same stretched workforce, if staff are moved from hospitals to diagnostic centres. Any workforce plans must also ensure that staff are well-integrated across all sites.‘
Notwithstanding the above evidence, there is a key difference in how the BMA’s communications via the mainstream media operates in Scotland compared to other parts of the UK. (The status of the NHS in NI and Wales would on the same set of metrics be at least if not much more ‘problematic’!)
The organisation’s lead in Scotland has a long track record – exposed here multiple times on TuS – of alarmist statements, devoid of context, perspective or comparative analysis of NHS Scotland’s performance relative to the NHS in the other parts of the UK. The statements of the BMA’s lead in Scotland, typically negative, are eagerly picked up by BBC Scotland and other pro-Union mainstream media outlets as useful additions to what is candidly, their gaslighting of Scotland.
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
Facts ? Dr Kennedy is the Donald Trump of the BMA as he insists on using ”alternative facts” to prove his point .
In his eyes , regardless of the far better performance of the Scottish NHS to their UK counterparts , ”We are doomed !”
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I had originally given the gentleman the benefit of doubt in attributing much of what was perceived to how Scottish media shaped reporting, but it didn’t last long.
I’m fairly sure his ‘alarmist statements’ etc are deliberately crafted to be attractive to Scotland’s anti-indy media – More than once I’ve seen him spotlight articles involving him on social media, citing this as raising the BMA’s profile as his role requires, but which I suggest is making BMA members in Scotland feel deeply uncomfortable, for all the reasons you cite..
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O/T apologies
John Swinney does a decent thing.
He apologised for something that others did. (this is now an expected act that other political parties expect from the SNP as do the media).
He did this in his capacity as the current FM of the Scottish government.
For that he should be commended as sometimes for those who are wronged in the past all they really want is recognition of that fact and then someone to apologise to them on behalf of others.
Some may argue and question why he did this. Well his apology as the current FM was prompted because of a recent report published on what was referred to as the “Tinker experiment” .
John Swinney chose to recognise , acknowledge , empathise and so apologise to those whose families had been wronged in the past by those others in power within the UK.
BBC article 25 June 2025:
“Swinney apologises to travellers for ‘Tinker Experiment'”
“In what is known as the “Tinker Experiments”, which ran from the 1940s to 1980s, authorities aimed to “settle” travellers by forcing them to leave their lives on the road for permanent settlements”
“It involved parents being threatened with having their children taken from them and put into care if they refused to leave their settlements on roadsides. Swinney said sorry for the “injustice and prejudice” of the historic policies, the impact of which he said was still felt today”.
“Swinney’s statement coincided with the publication of an independent report by academics at the University of St Andrews into the experiments”. One of the report’s authors, Prof Ali Watson, told BBC Scotland News a range of policies had led to discrimination and dehumanisation, amounting to “cultural genocide” against Gypsy Travellers”
“The report, commissioned by Holyrood ministers, found that the UK government’s Scottish Office, as well as churches, charities, local authorities and police, were complicit in facilitating forced assimilation, resettlement and the removal of children”
So the 1940’s to 1980’s long long before even a Scottish parliament and long long before the SNP became the Scottish government.
So who were the UK governments during those times between the 1940’s and 1980’s when this happened ?
UK political parties like the Tories ,Labour & Lib Dems.
However it seems that the usual lack of grace via the Tories is the standard by which they are determined to maintain as the BBC article had noted that:
“Tory MSP Alexander Stewart welcomed the “long overdue” apology. He questioned why it had taken so long and asked if the government was considering compensation for those affected by the experiments”.
If he, Tory Alexander, means “why has it taken so long” in the context of the SNP Scottish government apologising then……….
Yes indeed why has it taken the SNP as the Scottish government so long to apologise for something another (UK) government did and will they, the SNP as the Scottish government, now compensate those wronged for that action taken by another (UK) government ?
I mean Tory MSP Alexander Stewart’s party wronged the WASPI women and then they refused to apologise and ‘compensate’ them but , hey who cares ?
Then of course Tory MSP Alexander (and the BBC in this article) conveniently forget what Douglas Ross the Tory MSP and former Tory leader at Holyrood and former MP once said about Gypsy Travellers.
Ross said that “if he was PM for the day he would impose tougher enforcement against Gypsy Travellers “. Now that deserves an apology more so now that this is the subject being discussed and thus so topical.
Labour’s Paul Kane “also welcomed the statement, and apologised on behalf of his party and called for clarity on financial redress” .
( But Labour MSP Paul and his Labour party like Tory MSP Alexander and his Tory party also refuses “compensation” and “financial redress” for WASPI women even though when Paul’s Labour party were in opposition at WM they called for compensation for WASPI women. Hypocrites are us is a common bond between the Tories and Labour).
Tory Alexander and Labour Paul also fail to recognise that as this was an action taken during times when their respective parties were UK governments that neither of their parties have ever apologised for this or indeed offered “compensation” or “financial redress” to the Gypsy community.
Nope , yet they both expect the SNP as the Scottish government to once again do what their parties have failed to do in decades for the Gypsy community.
So yet again another past wrong done by a UK political party as a UK government that expects the current Scottish government to take full accountability and responsibility for , while also expecting them as the Scottish government to compensate those wronged by their UK parties in the past.
While both of their respective HQ parties drag their heels on the Post office scandal as well as other UK scandals in either failing to agree on or finalising an appropriate compensation package to those who have been , yet again, so badly wronged by them as UK governments.
How long did it take the Tories to acknowledge and then apologise to the Post Office Sub-Postmasters and then offer compensation but not complete that fulfilment prior to them being ousted as the previous UK government. Also it is currently being reported that under the new Labour UK government “compensation is still moving far too slowly” to those who were wronged (and it is yet another thing that the Scottish government have also been dragged into while having no culpability in this at all).
That’s the UK folks.
However some Scots love it and seem to want more of this as it seems that progression for Scotland as a country is not required by some Scots hence why they still vote for UK political parties as a constant.
In fact this very subject will be used by some of these Scottish voters , and too the media, as a political weapon and so apparently be further justification for them to not vote for the SNP and so allow them to keep voting either Tory, Labour, Lib Dem or even for the new cult pretend political party Reform UK.
Buyers remorse is always guaranteed , but will some of these voters in Scotland admit that to be the case post them electing any of these UK parties for either our Councils, our Scottish parliament or for the UK parliament, for some I suspect not , as they will just continue to suffer, like we too must constantly suffer for their poor and uninformed decisions in who they decide to vote for, not because they think these UK parties are better but only because they are known as a political party to support the UK. (bottom line always for some voters here).
The same UK that has caused so so much injustice and so many wrongs for so many people, yet as a UK it expects the SNP to both apologise for these injustices and wrongs and also to pick up the tab as a constant as well.
Liz S
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