Am I over-reacting to the possibility of confusion among some, even in Perth, Scotland, when a major police investigation in Nottingham adopts that title?
What is it all about?
From the Guardian today:
The report of the inquiry into the biggest maternity scandal in NHS history will outline “horrendous” failings in the care provided to women in Nottingham, the Guardian can reveal.
A catalogue of appalling behaviour over many years by staff at the city’s two hospitals – Queen’s Medical Centre and Nottingham City hospital – included racism towards mothers, it will say.
The NHS is bracing itself for the publication on Wednesday of a report by Donna Ockenden on 2,500 cases involving babies and mothers dying or being injured, and babies being stillborn, while under the care of Nottingham university hospitals NHS trust between 1 April 2012 and 31 May 2025.1
Perhaps we should check the facts just in case some, in Scotland too, think it’s just as bad here going by the stories about the QEUH in the Daily Record and Herald recently?
No equivalent to the hundreds of excess/avoidable harms documented in Nottingham has emerged in public reporting for Tayside.2
How many formal investigations into maternity services in England are there? Twelve.3
In Scotland, comparably formal? None. Scottish Government ‘review’ in 2026. 4
Sources:
- https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jun/22/nottingham-nhs-maternity-scandal-ockenden-report
- https://www.healthcareimprovementscotland.scot/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/20240227-Neonatal-Mortality-Review-Data-Analysis-Supporting-Document-FINAL-NO-EMBARGO.pdf
- https://www.matneoinv.org.uk/updates/independent-investigation-into-maternity-and-neonatal-services-in-england-interim-report/
- https://www.gov.scot/policies/maternal-and-child-health/improving-maternal-and-neonatal-care/
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That actually goes a step beyond the usual UK, the country, Britain claptrap. That’s pointing the finger at Perth.
Why on earth would they choose, from all the elegant words in their English dictionary, the name of the fair city in Scotland? Why would they do that?
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Aye right:
AI Overview
The name “Operation Perth” is merely an administrative codename generated by the Nottinghamshire Police. In UK policing, large-scale investigations are routinely assigned random operational names for internal reference, secure case management, and resource tracking. [1, 2]
The name has no hidden symbolic meaning or link to the city of Perth; it was simply the designation chosen when the force formally launched its criminal investigation into the maternity failings at the Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trus
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I know, I know but imagine one of the 95% who don’t do what you did and hear BBC talking of Operation Perth into a maternity crisis? Won’t some misunderstand?
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I intended to agree with you and to express scepticism: “merely an administrative code name” etc. My “Aye right” was equivalent to “tell it to the Marines”. Sorry to have been unclear.
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Not your fault.
I regularly misgrasp
John
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No—I can see why my comment was ambiguous and I am not aware that you misgrasp. I value your research hugely. Thanks
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Yes they will misunderstand. We know someone (in Scotland) who is an avid BBC radio listener, and the propaganda is very effective in helping demonise the SNP re Murrell etc. Any level of twisting the facts has an effect on those who know no better, who are not stupid but do not look at any alternative factual platforms like this one.
Sigh.
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Also what if it was the other way around and an English town/city name was used in such a way?
It seems delberate and certainly doesn’t do Scotland especially Perth any favours, and yes some people will equate this with Perth in Scotland.
A distraction from the fact it’s about England, what next.
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