Across BBC UK, the above shocking news is headlining. To immediately contrast the situation with that in Scotland will no doubt attract accusations of whitabootery not to mention insensitivity but you know that were the comparison to favour NHS England, we’d hear plenty.

It doesn’t.

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NHS Scotland does not publish a precise breakdown of A&E claims and the 2025/2026 overall claims data has not yet been published, but for 2024/2025:

NHS England – 17 550.

Scotland – 945 (up 18.5% on previous year).

All things being equal, the NHS Scotland figure might have been expected to be around 1 755 but was only just over half that.

*Returning to A&E claims, while a direct comparison is not possible we can see that, in NHS England, 13.9% of all claims were related to A&E while in NHS Scotland, in 2023/2024, only 8% of reimbursed claims were related to A&E.

Sources:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6878fe277ea209168636391b/nhs-resolution-annual-report-and-accounts-2024-to-2025-hc1065.pdf

https://www.nss.nhs.scot/publications/cnoris-annual-report-2024-2025/

An important factor in the above is this:

NHS Scotland’s A&E waits of over 24 hours are still fewer than a fifth per capita of those in NHS England contrary to Anas Sarwar’s claims in 2024

And it’s not just in A&E, maternity too:

How have we known for at least a decade that Scotland’s maternity services were not troubled like those in NHS England? More than three times per head, the cost of settling negligence lawsuits in NHS England

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