NHS Scotland has already beaten the 18 week treatment target Wes Streeting set for NHS England but which they have failed

Well done Scotland?

In the Guardian yesterday, the above graph and:

The NHS is set to miss key targets to shorten waiting times for help at A&E, cancer care and planned hospital treatment, leaving millions of patients facing persistently long delays.

The health service in England will not deliver a series of milestone improvements in its performance that ministers demanded it achieve by the time the fiscal year ends on Tuesday, a Guardian analysis of the NHS’s most recent data has found. Streeting has repeatedly promised to ensure that 92% of people waiting for non-urgent hospital care such as appointments and operations get it within 18 weeks by 2029. However, the NHS only saw 61.5% of patents within 18 weeks in January. That was up on its 58.9% performance in January 2025 but still too low to hit the 65% year-end target for 2025-26.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/mar/29/nhs-miss-targets-wait-times-performance-england-wes-streeting

But from Public Health Scotland last week:

Of all pathways completed, 84.6% (235,977) were fully measurable against the 18-week standard. 67% (158,135) of these pathways were completed within 18 weeks of referral, a decrease from 67.6% (162,121) in the previous quarter. However, this is higher than the 66.5% (155,232) observed a year previously in the quarter ending 31 December 2023.

https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/nhs-waiting-times-18-weeks-referral-to-treatment/nhs-waiting-times-18-weeks-referral-to-treatment-quarter-ending-31-december-2024/

I feel sure neither BBC Scotland nor BBC England nor any English newspaper will report this.

Imagine though, the froth, if this was the other way round.


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4 thoughts on “NHS Scotland has already beaten the 18 week treatment target Wes Streeting set for NHS England but which they have failed

  1. “I feel sure neither BBC Scotland nor BBC England nor any English newspaper will report this”.

    Indeed.

    The script that they prefer is the one where opposition parties accuse the SNP of having “destroyed the Scottish NHS”.

    Of course that is a script that is minus all of the data and stats that would verify this , so then would substantiate their accusation.

    They, the opposition and the BBC in Scotland, could also make comparisons between Scotland’s NHS performance with that of other nations within the UK , to then they would have an opportunity to further prove that Scotland was in fact being destroyed by the SNP, and so indeed were the worst performing NHS within the UK State.

    The fact that this is never done and instead they just say “The SNP are destroying the Scottish NHS” should give the public a clue that, as opposition parties (and the BBC) , well they would then just say what about our NHS wouldn’t they, all for political reasons only.

    Sarwar often uses individual cases where he exploits a situation (and I think he also exploits the individuals involved) purely for a political reasons, but let’s be honest individual cases are not representative of the whole Scottish NHS are they ?

    Never do we see the BBC seeking out people who have had a positive experience from the Scottish NHS, indeed many of us have noted that they, the BBC, instead have a habit of seeking out members of the public to contact them if they have had a bad experience with the Scottish NHS, thus potentially encouraging dubious and greatly exaggerated tales (lies) from sources who are hostile to the SNP.

    So the BBC Scotland radio phone-ins always present a subject where they try to encourage negative feedback from the public, as in how they, as BBC presenters, present their phone-ins .

    So then what the BBC seem to be seeking is members of the public phoning in to make unfounded and generalised claims and statements, as well as giving their own individual experience which cannot be substantiated as to whether their NHS experiences is a truthful one.

    Examples of some BBC Radio Scotland phone-ins:

    Recently Stephen Jardine introduced a phone-in by stating “with an unprecedented 7 out of action at the same time what is the problem with Scotland’s Ferries ? That’s the phone-in this morning”.

    Also Stephen Jardine recently “On mornings with me from nine Scotland’s biggest Teacher’s Union meets today to decide whether to go ahead with strike before the Holyrood election over workload. Are we asking too much of Scotland’s teachers” ?

    Then on a previous programme with Kaye Adams “Teachers absences due to stress have increased by a third in recent years and education experts (anonymous ones but I think we all may know who the expert is) say many are leaving the profession as a result. Are we expecting too much of our teachers. Why is it so hard to be in the classroom” ?

    Also Kaye Adams “Teachers in Kirkintilloch are taking industrial action in response to pupil violence and Unions say it is a country wide issue. Do we have a problem with behaviour in Scotland’s schools ?

    But wait it’s not just BBC Radio Scotland nor just Reporting Scotland but also BBC QT who join in too, as in June 2025 one of the questions chosen to be asked by an audience member in St Andrews was this:

    Is the NHS in Scotland ‘dying before our eyes’” ?

    Guess who panel member, Anas Sarwar, quoted as having said that ….yep, it was the BBC’s and Labour’s favoured NHS expert Dr Iain Kennedy of the BMA.

    So recently, in March 2026, there was a survey done on the NHS in the whole UK and in respect to the Scottish NHS , but not reported ON BBC SCOTLAND , they found that “Scotland has the highest NHS satisfaction rating in the UK“……

    Well that certainly contradicts ‘experts’ that both opposition parties and the BBC in Scotland always quote to try to politicise the Scottish NHS , just to try to gain a political advantage for opposition parties.

    BTW is respect to that UK survey on the NHS . well Labour run Wales were at the bottom of that survey.

    Also in 2024 according to a General Medical Council (GMC) UK-wide survey published by NHS Education for Scotland (NES) (that is prior to the above BBC QT episode in St Andrews):

    “Scotland scores highly for medical training”

    “A GMC UK wide survey on medical training published today shows that Scotland continues to have the highest score for overall satisfaction across the UK”.

    See the evidence is not hard to find to then refute what both opposition parties and the BBC keep promoting , which is a constant negativity on our Scottish NHS, Education etc etc.

    However if the Scottish public , when asked in surveys, do not concur with the (fake) observations made by all of the opponents to the SNP (including the BBC) then that could be why they, as a Scottish public, keep voting in the SNP as their preferred Scottish government………

    As lived experience via a majority of the public always wins against what clearly is mostly really partisan speculation, suggestion and unsubstantiated accusations aka politicisation.

    No one is saying that our NHS is completely perfect , however we are not, as a nation, able to run our health service with the same levers that other countries have, who as countries are far more fortunate, in that they are all independent countries who are not tied to the UK State.

    Yet even with that (UK State) hindrance , still we see that our Scottish NHS is most certainly not the worst performing within the UK and that is factual, via all of the various presented UK wide public surveys and professional published data and stats , so then Scotland’s NHS performance is scoring higher ratings than others NHS services within the UK State.

    However we must, it seems, always suffer a widespread media blackout that amounts to #Wheesht-For-The-Scottish-NHS-Best-UK-Performance.

    I think we all know why that is.

    Liz S

     

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  2. Talking of “BBC Scotland” , in particular their website.

    The former SNP Councillor Jordan Linden.

    The BBC are doing their best to keep this above story ‘alive’ via what is now four different articles on their website on the above former SNP Councillor.

    1. Former council leader denies sending sexual images to men and boys 24 March
    2. Former council leader guilty of sexually assaulting young men 26 March
    3. SNP to review party complaints after sex attacks by ex-council leader 27 March
    4. First Minister apologises to victims of ex-council leader – 29 March (it is currently still the 2nd article on their Scottish politics page).

    MSM Monitor had posted this online:

    “Why is Swinney being pursued by reporters over an ex-SNP councillor but Sarwar isn’t being pursued over *multiple* ex-Scottish Labour councillors incl. Frank McAveety, David Graham & Andrew Duffy-Lawson, one from the same local authority as Jordan Linden” ?

    Also MSM Monitor had posted this as well:

    “BBC Scotland isn’t *becoming* a propaganda station, it already is one. Unionist leaders are never pressed to apologise for ex-councillors who are convicted of sex offences. The PM wasn’t pressed to apologise for the ex-Labour councillor convicted of child sex offences last month. Sarwar wasn’t pressed to apologise after ex-Labour councillor David Graham was convicted of child sex offences. Indeed, Sarwar himself had campaigned on behalf of Graham. Sarwar was also not asked to apologise to victims of Andrew Duffy Lawson who resigned as finance convener at North Lanarkshire Council last year after allegations of sexual messaging. BBC Scotland has headlined the Jordan Linden story relentlessly since the conviction, pressing John Swinney. The station has never covered another councillor conviction in this manner before, and likely will never do so again”.

    Well said MSM Monitor, as once again the BBC actively protecting, as in shielding, Anas Sarwar.

    As they, the BBC, constantly seek out , as in relentlessly pursue all and any SNP politicians and also the current and previous Scottish SNP FM’s, in order to try to keep any story alive with a succession of different articles via different angles on the same topic.

    The sole agenda being to try to oust the SNP as the Scottish government in order for our Scottish parliament to then be controlled outright by either just one ‘Unionist’ party , or controlled via a coalition of Unionist parties , aka those who are staunch British Nationalists and whose respective HQ’s are based in another country.

    (Branch offices whose HQ’s are those who actually ‘call the shots’ as to what happens in Scotland…..and so whose various respective branch office managers based in Scotland must always comply with all of their HQ demands-instructions-plans for Scotland).

    No autonomy is allowed for any pro UK parties based in Scotland.

    It’s their respective HQ’s way or the highway…….

    Liz S

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  3. Also the BBC , but , as yet, not BBC Scotland, but the BBC UK politics (English politics) page on their website is this headline:

    “PM launches Labour’s local election campaign with focus on cost of living”

    “local election” – that is for Labour’s campaign for local elections in England.

    Starmer also mentioned “the removal of the two-child benefit cap”.

    However also within this BBC article it stated that this only followed (as in happened) because of pressure from “Labour backbenchers” and so only then did the Labour government say it would “lift the restriction” – as a “change that will come into force from April 2026”.

    An excellent ‘X’ account online is that of Saul Staniforth , he posted this today on Starmer’s comments in his speech today on lifting the two child cap:

    Keir Starmer: “It only happened because of a Lab govt”

    Saul Staniforth responded to that above comment by Starmer on the scrapping of the two child cap “only happening because of a Labour govt”.

    “You personally suspended 7 Labour MP’s from the Parliamentary Labour Party for voting to scrap the two child benefit cap. It only happened because you were forced, kicking & screaming, to do it”.

    Starmer yet again rewriting or erasing history connected to his Labour party as the new UK Labour government…..in what was for him, with this change on the two child cap , simply yet another U-Turn.

    Next they , Labour politicians and Starmer, will all be claiming that the Scottish government are doing nothing for child poverty in Scotland , as apparently the SNP’s Scottish Child Payment , is yet another positive and effective initiative implemented by the SNP , where all Unionists and their respective client media have decided to define it as being a #Wheesht subject both within and outwith Scotland.

    Liz S

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