in England’s accident and emergency departments last year, according to the British Medical Journal. The figures also show almost half-a-million people spent more than 24 hours in A&E before being admitted to a hospital bed, transferred or discharged.

Here’s what the BMJ actually said:

A&E crisis: Data show 13 386 patients waited over three days in England’s emergency departments as patients say “they’d rather die at home”

Might BBC Reporting Scotland have made more of that? You bed they would. ‘Crisis?’ ‘Rather die at home?’ Right up there and all day long.

And this graph?

The full report is at: https://www.bmj.com/content/393/bmj.s756

Comparisons with NHS Scotland can be very tricky, not least because NHS England restarts the clock after triage when the patient is allocated to a department whereas NHS Scotland counts from when you arrive at the A&E reception.

I’ll have a go in the next post.