BBC put Labour first this morning to suggest a two-tier NHS in Scotland which this simple map and that only 4% were done privately completely ridicule

The above from September 2023, shows private healthcare providers (red) and MPs taking money from them to push their interests (blue £), notably then only one in Scotland – Ian Murray, Edinburgh South (Labour).

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1_vYkm4Yb_3r1SCl76qvgdR6zwqqB4u4&femb=1&ll=54.52217059297223%2C-2.3420011625000114&z=6

BBC Scotland this morning put the third-largest party first, to tell us that Scottish Labour are campaigning on the NHS and accusing the Scottish Government of creating a ‘two-tier’ system.

You really want to see a two-tier system, first check out the distribution of private healthcare across the UK and of MPs being paid by them in the above map.

Second, while the map shows the spread of the two-tier system across England, here are the numbers:

In 2024/2025, the Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN) estimated 50 000 private treatments in Scotland.

https://www.phin.org.uk/press-releases/a-record-50000-private-hospital-admission-in-scotland-in-2024

So, with ten times the population, if Scotland had a two tier system, we’d have as many as England, per head of population – 500 000.

BUT, England had more than 6 MILLION, 12 times as many per head, 120 times as many overall.

Finally, that 50 000 private treatments what percentage is that of the 1.2 million carried by the NHS in Scotland?

4.1%

Not much of a tier?

https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/acute-hospital-activity-and-nhs-beds-information-annual/acute-hospital-activity-and-nhs-beds-information-annual-year-ending-31-march-2025

6 thoughts on “BBC put Labour first this morning to suggest a two-tier NHS in Scotland which this simple map and that only 4% were done privately completely ridicule”

  1. An update on the number of Labour MPs in Scotland receiving donations from private health care providers from research carried out last year.

    Half of the current batch of Labour MPs in Scotland receive donations from private health care providers. Often the donations come via Labour Together. The donations totalled £200,000.

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  2. Disappointing to see that the SNP piece makes no mention of the Internal Market Act. The IMA ended devolution in a single sentence. It allows Westminster to intervene at any time to ensure that health policy in Scotland can be aligned with that in England to suit the interests of the USA health sector.

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  3. Notable from the HMS James Cook website this morning is “The nuclear power station at the centre of the political divide in Scotland”, apparently contrived by Paris Gourtsoyannis, Westminster correspondent, but it doesn’t take long before the inevitable client appears –

    “Hinkley C is also at the centre of a major political divide in Scottish politics, which is set to emerge as one of the big arguments in this year’s Scottish Parliament elections.

    That’s because a project like it would be impossible in Scotland – under the SNP, the Scottish government opposes any new nuclear development.

    “Across the UK, there’s currently 98,000 people working in nuclear. We think there’s the potential for thousands of those jobs to be in Scotland,” says UK Energy Minister Michael Shanks, a Scottish Labour MP”.

    https://archive.ph/DdKiU

    For perspective as opposed to the preposterous implications in this article, and since Michael Shanks graduated in history and politics, it seems appropriate to use him a as a benchmark – The last nuclear power station to be built in Scotland was indeed the featured Torness, construction beginning in 1980, commissioned in 1988, the same year Michael Shanks was born – The SNP wrested majority power in Scotland from Labour in 2011, with Labour having not proposed building any new nuclear in Scotland for 31 years.

    Hinkley C began construction in 2017, when Michael Shanks failed in his first bid to become an MP, and before even being qualified to teach anyone about anything.

    SMRs became the latest nuclear political wet dream in the early 2020s under Boris the Bullshitter, reaching mythical status in 2023 without a solitary commercial plant having been built – This was the same year Michael Shanks left learning how to teach and became an MP – In the same year, the SNP promoted harnessing of wind power had hit record levels of energy production such that renewables powered all of Scotland.

    So what can we learn from Michael Shanks about as yet unproven SMRs ? Frankly f… all of any use…

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    1. ‘The nuclear power station at the centre of the political divide in Scotland‘ the BBC Scotland piece states, referring to Hinkley C. It then goes on to tells us how amazing this Hinkley C project is – for industrial development, employment, skills development, the surrounding local economy etc. etc. It’s just all wonderful!

      However, dear reader (voter): ‘a project like it would be impossible in Scotland – under the SNP’. So no Hinkley C equivalent in Scotland due to those damn idealogical nats?

      It’s only at the end of this blatant puff piece – after lengthy marketing of the ‘benefits’ of Hinkley C which Scotland is missing out on – that the internal logic of BBC Scotland disintegrates: ‘But if nuclear investment did come to Scotland, it wouldn’t look like Hinkley C‘!!!

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