Please Support Talking-up Scotland at:
https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-talking-up-scotland
Click on the above.
Or direct bank transfer at Sort Code 08-91-04 Account - 12266421 Name - JOHN ROBERTSON
The above threat is not the result of the gathered opinion of thousands of Scottish ‘doctors’ but just the views of Geriatrician, Professor Andrew Elder of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, above.
He clearly doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
NHS England is more than 100 times, 10 times per head, more privatised than NHS Scotland
in England were delivered by private hospitals and clinics in the last 12 months – that’s almost 500 000 higher than the previous year. The Health Secretary….[was not criticised for the obvious evidence of failures in NHS England.]
The figure, 6.15 million comes from the private sector – David Hare, Independent Healthcare Providers Network.
Scotland, you ask?
From Grok AI:
NHS Scotland’s policy prioritizes public sector delivery for elective care, with limited reliance on the independent (private) sector compared to other UK nations. Use of private hospitals and clinics is targeted at specific backlogs (e.g., orthopaedics, ophthalmology, endoscopy) and is often short-term or regionally focused. Exact aggregate figures for NHS-funded activity in private facilities over the precise period of October 26, 2024, to October 26, 2025, are not publicly available in official statistics as of the current date (the most recent comprehensive data covers up to Q3 2024, with partial updates for 2024-25). However, based on Scottish Government reports, Audit Scotland data, and health board disclosures, I estimate approximately 50,000 to 70,000 appointments, tests, and operations were delivered in private hospitals and clinics for NHS Scotland patients in the last 12 months. This is derived from expenditure trends, procedure volumes, and historical patterns.
This is an estimate, as is, given it’s diversity of ownership, the private sector figure but, all things being equal, you might expect the NHS England figure to be 10 times greater, at 500 000 to 600 000. It is, however, at least, 100 times greater at 6 150 000.
This dramatic contrast can be seen in the distribution of private health care providers across the UK:
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).
The scale of the drift to privatisation – Nearly 100% of GPs in Scotland work in the NHS but only 66% do so in England
In the Guardian in September 2025:
One in three GPs in England do not work in the NHS, with increasing numbers seeking to move abroad or becoming a private contractor, deepening patients’ difficulties in getting appointments.
The proportion of family doctors who, although qualified, do not provide care through the NHS has risen from 27% in 2015 to 34% last year, according to a study published in the BMJ.
That means almost 20,000 GPs who could be working in the health service are “lost” to it and are not doing so, despite unprecedented demand for care and many government initiatives to try to increase GP numbers.
How does Scotland compare?
The percentage of qualified Scottish GPs working in the NHS (via general practice contracts) is approximately 100%, with minor exceptions for those in non-clinical roles (e.g., academia or administration) or temporarily out of practice.
https://www.bma.org.uk/advice-and-support/nhs-delivery-and-workforce/pressures/nhs-under-pressure-scotland and https://www.thenational.scot/news/25417923.number-gps-scotland-increases-first-time-since-2019/
So, 34% and 100% – three times as many?
Please Support Talking-up Scotland at:
https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-talking-up-scotland
Click on the above.
Or direct bank transfer at Sort Code 08-91-04 Account - 12266421 Name - JOHN ROBERTSON
Talking-up Scotland 