From BBC Scotland today: NHS Scotland spent £440m last year on beds for patients who were unable to get out of hospital despite being ready to be discharged, according to public spending watchdogs. The report from the Audit Scotland and the Accounts Commission said one in nine hospital beds were occupied because of delayed discharges in the 12 months to April 2025. People experiencing a delayed discharge collectively spent more than 720,000 clinically unnecessary days in hospital last year. It’s only in the 12th paragraph, of BBC Scotland‘s report on the effort’s of the UK’s most well-known Auditor General, Stephen … Continue reading In Scotland, 97% of patients experience no delay in hospital discharge – it’s been the same since records began but only one of 4 auditor generals in the UK seems interested in this stuff, wonder why

Government response to winter weather disruption in the north. Tim Eagle [Con] says support for Moray, Aberdeenshire and the Highlands was too slow given the severity of the conditions and argues that ministers should have brought in extra help. It’s a Daily Mail story picked up by the highly trained researchers at Pacific Quay or just phoned in by the Scottish Cons. Politically-motivated pass-the-buck – local councils hold primary responsibility for on-the-ground actions in their areas, such as declaring major incidents, clearing roads, managing school closures and supporting residents. Moray Council has been Conservative-led since May 2022 and Aberdeenshire has … Continue reading Tory MSP criticises Scot Gov for winter weather problems but Tory/LD Aberdeenshire council had just removed 1 200 grit bins amid budget cuts only months earlier and then suffered the greatest disruption

Anas and Kenny, a duo going nowhere? Anas uses the one NHS card they have, waits over one year for by definition non-life-threatening conditions are shorter in England, which they owe to Boris Johnson after he spent millions clearing it, by paying the private sector to work weekends and evenings. John Swinney has, rather, gone for reducing the numbers on the 18-week [then 12]waiting list made up of those who are on it for the very obvious reason, their lives are at risk: From Public Health Scotland 18 March 2025, for 2024 [Latest release], we can see that in Glasgow in December … Continue reading Anas won’t say – There is a higher percentage of the people, in my home city of Glasgow alone, being treated for life-threatening conditions such as heart disease and cancer within 18 weeks than in any part of England

Professor John Robertson OBA Still on the BBC Scotland website – Justice secretary found to have breached ministerial code Still on the Herald frontpage – Constance ‘breached Ministerial Code twice’ The Express, this: and on the Scotsman frontpage – Constance won’t resign despite code breaches Note that two of the above still suggest that resignation is appropriate. Nowhere in the BBC Scotland text, nor in these three front pages, this concluding, definitive, statement from the independent advisers: The principles described in the Code provide for a spectrum of seriousness from inadvertence to knowingly misleading Parliament. We have concluded that the … Continue reading Angela Constance witch-hunt – Even the North Wales Chronicle and the Largs and Millport News have more accurate and ethical reporting than the ‘Scottish’ MSM

Professor John Robertson OBA YouGov is no friend of the SNP nor of Scottish Independence. They have an unerring ability to pluck out a NO lead in a stream of YES leads found by other pollsters and lower SNP figures than others. See below: They do this over and over by adjusting the sample so that, even after 11 or 12 years, it has a 55 to 45 ratio of No and Yes voters in 2014, in full Scotland only polls. However, when it does a full UK Westminster poll it cannot really do this and so the Scottish sub-poll … Continue reading 10 YouGov sub-polls in two months suggest SNP is really on 40%

Professor John Robertson OBA In January 2025, SNP First Minister John Swinney promised to get NHS Scotland waiting lists down substantially and, based on the latest figures, he has. It’s not proving a popular narrative for the MSM in Scotland. At the end of 2025, NHS Scotland’s overall waiting list for new outpatient appointments has fallen for the 6th month in a row, to 559 077 pathways: https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/nhs-waiting-times-stage-of-treatment/stage-of-treatment-waiting-times-inpatients-day-cases-and-new-outpatients-6-january-2026/ All things being equal, the equivalent NHS England figure should be around 5.6mn but it was 7.46 mn, 51% longer! https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/rtt-waiting-times/ Continue reading One year after First Minister’s promise NHS Scotland’s overall waiting list for new outpatient appointments has fallen for the 6th month in a row with NHS England’s list now a shocking 51% longer per head of population