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Professor John Robertson OBA
As BMA Scotland branch secretary, Iain Findlay recycles his claims on the Herald front page today, some of the evidence they do not survive a collision with:
12 hour A&E waits TWICE as long in England and nearly THREE TIMES as long in Wales
Performance statistics for A&E waits, NHS England, November and December 2024:
Over 12 hour delays = 54,207 patients – from decision to admit to admission. This equates to 1,749 decision to admit delays over 12 hours per day, an increase of 23.6% (334 patients daily) from December 2023.
Question: how long had these c.54k patients already spent in an A&E department up to the time the decision to admit them was made? In other words what was the TOTAL time they spent in A&E – how much longer than 12 hours did they spend in A&E – before being admitted to a ward? These 54k patients are the so-called ’trolley waits’!
Back to the NHS England performance statistics: over 12 hour delays during December = 166,989 patients – from arrival. This equates to 12% of attendances, compared to 157,556 (10.8%) in November 2024.
And for comparison, performance statistics for A&E waits for NHS Scotland, November 2024, from Public Health Scotland (January 16, 2025):
Over 12 hour delays = 6,683 patients – from arrival. This equates to 5.4% of attendances, compared to 7,674 (5.9%) the previous month, and 4,914 (4%) monthly average for 2023.
Yes, too many long waits in NHS Scotland but credit where credit is due: 5.4% of attendances in November is a lot lower than the equivalent figure of 10.8% in England.
For completeness, from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine’s press statement dated December 19, 2024 on latest statistics from NHS Wales:
‘The data, released today (Thursday 19 December 2024) by the Welsh Government showed in November .. more than one in seven (14.7%) waited 12 hours or longer in Emergency Departments across in the country.’
And 5.4% is a lot lower still than 14.7%!
Are politicians in Unionist party’s in North Britain aware of these comparisons favourable to NHS Scotland? Or is it that they are confident that the North British news media will never report or challenge their persistent efforts to denigrate and gaslight?
NHS Scotland increases number treated within 18 weeks to lead NHS England by 14%
From Public Health Scotland 18 March 2025, for the quarter ending 31 December 2024, we can see that 67% of the 278 805 patients attending were treated within the 18 weeks target. This is a 1.5% improvement on the figures for the same period in 2023.1
NHS England does not published quarterly data but for December 2024, the figure was only 58.9% treated within 18 weeks.2
NHS Scotland is thus treating 13.75% more within the target of 18 weeks. Remember that small percentage figure refers to more than 38 000 seen on time in NHS Scotland who might not had they lived in England.
Sources:
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
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The Sunday Herald front page…..
“In a bleakly pessimistic interview , Chair of the British Medical Association Scotland Dr Iain Kennedy reveals all on the disturbing crisis currently engulfing our health system”.
“pessimistic” is a constant with Sr Iain Kennedy on the Scottish NHS service…..in fact has he ever said anything positive about our Scottish NHS and our Scottish government ?
“our health system”….is that only “ours” (Scotland’s) or is there also a “disturbing crisis engulfing the health system” elsewhere in the UK…….????
The suggestion or rather the direct accusation tends to give the impression that it is apparently, according to Dr Iain Kennedy, only the “NHS in Scotland” that “is dying before our eyes”………meanwhile what is happening elsewhere within the UK……..in Wales, NI and also in England………are their NHS “systems” worthy of optimism as they are to be assumed to all be thriving as other UK health systems ?
Well apparently they are not thriving and so not worthy of optimism……and context and comparison is everything…..see previous articles on TUS in respect to various poor performances within the NHS in Wales and England in comparison to Scotland’s better performing NHS services…….
So just as the BBC in Scotland have a list of #SNPBAD commentators on speed dial then so does some of the press in Scotland (as in those who publish here but are not owned by media companies based in Scotland) …..
All we ever see are the same names that keep coming up time and time again as “critics” of both Scotland and of the Scottish government….who as the same names, are then always seen by the media as being reliable, as a source, in their constant doomsday predictions in respect to Scotland, and also their ultimate conclusions being ones that always blame the SNP …..that is where all blame and responsibility is solely down to the SNP as the Scottish government……
Apparently none of them seem to want to acknowledge that Scotland has a devolved government that does not have full powers, full control of all monies and so , as a devolved government , they are then often negatively impacted (hindered) by poor decisions on public services and reduced funding via various UK governments.
If Labour , when they were formerly the official opposition , declared that the Tory UK government’s poor decisions and lack of funding of the NHS then greatly impacted the Welsh Labour devolved Government’s NHS service …….then why did (does) that not also apply to our Scottish devolved government’s NHS service as governed by the SNP…. who as a Scottish devolved government were also subject to these same Tory UK government poor decisions and lack of funding on the NHS ?
So Scotland with a devolved government that has limited powers and financial restrictions …..they are then working in a way that prohibits real progress being made in their country, Scotland….but that is never ever to be considered as noteworthy as part of the critique of the same “Some Critics say”….or some of those same critics specifically named…. who then always conclude that within the UK it is only #ScotlandThatIsS**** and the #SNPWhoAreBad…..????
In fact people like Dr Iain Kennedy and others , as critics, seem to speak about and write about our Scottish public services as if Scotland and our Scottish government were working as an independent country with all of the levers that other governments within independent countries have available to them………..
Mind you some of the public in Scotland also sometimes fail to recognise the limitations our Scottish governments has to work under…..and so they too , as a public, often speak as if Scotland was the same as other independent countries within the world….
They also fail , as a public, to highlight that we are subject to UK government’s reserved powers that then forces our own government in Scotland to try to mitigate much of the damage being done by decisions being made elsewhere within the UK by another government (UK one)….as in our government having to implement a succession of mitigation exercises in order to soften the blow for some people within Scotland……..as in to lessen the impact on their lives (unfortunately that then uses up valuable funds and resources…..as our Scottish government is then forced to adopt a ‘Rob Peter to pay Paul’ strategy…..because of an action done or a decision made by a UK government).
Every time I hear any criticism of our Scottish government or any comparisons being made between Scotland and Europe.…. I never hear those who are making those criticisms and those comparisons then also highlight the fact that Scotland is connected to the UK , that is…. Scotland is a part of the UK ….so then Scotland is , many a time , at the mercy of the UK State overruling our Scottish government…….while countries within Europe are NOT subject to this UK State interference.
So we are , as a country, subject to UK government’s reserved powers and as such we are also not in receipt of all of the money that is available to other (independent) countries in the world (including those in Europe) …..that is also a glaring omission made by the media within the UK and also within Scotland………and it is also one that UK parties, for obvious reasons , fail to note as well.
It is extremely pertinent and very significant as a factor but it is greatly diminished as being relevant whenever we read articles like this one in The Herald….and also others that are very similar in tone and theme…….. that are via the same named sources like Dr Iain Kennedy whom the BBC in Scotland also promotes as a regular ‘contact’….as part of their ongoing #SNPBAD campaign………
The SNP are far from perfect (however what UK political party in opposition to them is perfect within the UK ?)
But let’s have some honesty here ….the SNP as the Scottish government , must try to constantly function within the UK State with one hand tied behind their backs….and so they must also contend with a succession of hostile UK governments who do their best to try to hinder the SNP as the Scottish government……with obstacles like…….
The UK Internal Market …….which is just a UK State con that has been over promoted and so used as a weapon against Scotland since Brexit, as a way for the UK government to take away more powers and more decisions from the Scottish government……now I wonder does Dr Kennedy have an opinion on that ?
We see various pro UK opposition parties within Scotland who are propped up and so promoted by their respective HQ’s down South……and so the UK media (both here in Scotland and also elsewhere in the UK) also do their bit for the UK State and so then they are also are doing their bit for the various UK HQ political parties…..in their undermining the SNP as a party and also as the Scottish government in a onslaught of negative press against both the SNP as a party and as a Scottish government……….
It’s blatant, yet it is , and always will be, an ongoing campaign where the desired ultimate conclusion is one , that they, the UK media and UK State politicians, all hope will end with the SNP being destroyed as a party ..and so then they (wrongly) assume that Scottish independence will then also be destroyed……… and then they also (wrongly) assume that the UK State status quo can just keep plodding on …..unchallenged…….. once again…..
Both the UK media and UK politicians have always (intentionally) refused to acknowledge that the YES movement in Scotland is not only about the SNP…….
The SNP are seen by many as (currently) being the vehicle by which we can politically win our independence (though some others within Scotland beg to differ , but let’s see this from a widespread Scottish public’s perspective ….the same Scottish public who are not greatly engaged in politics…. but they are very aware of the SNP and their assumed Raison d’être being Scottish independence…. ) ……….
So then the rest of the world (with rogue exceptions) will formally accept and so acknowledge us as an independent country if we do win our independence with a legitimate vote as in referendum…….
A legitimate and justified vote that is now being refused as a viable option by various UK governments…….. who very much fear (know) that their time and their UK State’s time is finally up ……that is for Scotland still wanting to ‘remain’ within their dysfunctional, most unstable and totally politically corrupt UK State………..
(To include what is clearly also a politically corrupt and politically compromised UK State media pumping out their UK State political propaganda against Scotland to stop it voting for independence)………….
So just as the UK State is supported by UK political parties and so they are seen as the various political vehicles with which the UK State depends upon for it’s sustainability…….to help maintain the UK State’s… status quo….
That then means we will always hear in the “news where we are” and also read these kind of sensationalist front page headlines sourced from the likes of Dr Iain Kennedy in papers like The Herald…..
Dr Kennedy , who as an individual , has been known to be a tad non impartial against the SNP………..and has also been noted as being a tad too silent upon other political parties with his supposed ‘professional’ critique ………..
Like for example when Rachel Reeves , the Labour government’s Chancellor , in a past Labour budget, increased NI Employer contributions , and then there was an article about:
“Doctors in the Highlands fear increased National Insurance (NI) costs could close some practices”
(But it was not Dr Iain Kennedy who raised this as a significant issue for the Scottish NHS services or who regarded it as a reason to be “pessimistic” and also as being “disturbing” and so potentially could lead to a “crisis” in our “NHS systems”…as it was the Deputy Chair of BMA Scotland who raised it as a issue for “Doctors in the Higlands”…so was Dr Kennedy on holiday and so unavailable for comment on this ?).
Honestly the UK State media (and others) must think that everyone within Scotland are all , as voters, gullible idiots…. to buy into their UK State media propaganda………
I think many of us all now know why they, as a UK State media, choose to only promote certain narratives while ignoring others (as in those other ones that do all of the real damage to Scotland and that are generated from elsewhere…….as in from another government within the UK who sit in another parliament within the UK…..as in the UK government(s) who sit in WM).
Ducking sick of it all TBH…….FFS media ….give it a rest…..as you are driving us all Mad…that’s the real story here ….. as a constant………’Biased UK State media drives people mad’…..(hence why their publication figures are on a downward spiral)…………
Apologies yet again for long comment………..it’s hard to be concise when there is so so so much to criticise ………that is ….it is hard for me to be concise…..Ha Ha
Liz S
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