Professor John Robertson OBA The Herald is headlining today under yet another tasteless, clickbait image of someone holding their head in a darkened room: Exclusive: Charities question £16m gap in Scottish mental health budget Further down, they give us the background for scale of the alleged cut. 1.07%. Even further down we see: The Herald piece is an awesome attempt to confuse with Byzantine accounting procedures. I have no idea what they’re on about much of the time but I think it’s just about the level of detail being provided, as in this: I feel sure there is a TuS … Continue reading There may or may not have been a 1% cut in the mental health budget

Professor John Robertson OBA Not for the first time, one time half-decent journo, now full-time Tory Gammon, Ian Macwhirter, cannot conceal his glee when he thinks he’s found evidence that Scots are just as nasty as Essex Tories. He bases his latest on the Sunday Times/Norstat poll on 22-25 September 2025, revealing that 60% of the sample (1 010) support mass detention sand deportation of those who arrive in the UK, without permission, for example on small boats? There’s a problem. The sample of 1 010 has been adjusted, ‘weighted‘, to match the vote in the 2014 referendum, 11 years … Continue reading Poll suggesting to a gammon that majority of Scots support mass detention and deportation has same sampling flaw as those suggesting a No majority in a referendum on independence

Professor John Robertson OBA In the Guardian today, the above. Looking at the most recent statistics: NHS Scotland In Q2 2025 (April-June), 95.3% of 7 461 patients started treatment within 31 days from decision to treat, beating the 95% target, and 69.9% of patients started treatment within 62 days from urgent suspicion of cancer. https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/cancer-waiting-times/cancer-waiting-times-1-april-to-30-june-2025/ NHS England In July 2025, 92.4% of patients started treatment within 31 days and 69.2% of patients started treatment within 62 days. https://news.cancerresearchuk.org/2025/09/24/cancer-waiting-times-latest-updates-and-analysis/ So, NHS Scotland performing significantly better and remember that around 3% difference means around 250 more patients treated on time in Scotland, in one quarter, and around 2 500 more … Continue reading As the Guardian reports cancer treatment failures in NHS England how Scotland hits 95% target and outperforms it to save thousands but ‘your’ media keep quiet

Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to Anonymous for alerting us to this: Scotland’s own app can do more than Mr Streeting’s app! Following initial roll-out, MyCare will be expanded to hospital-based services, BEFORE including other areas of the health and social care system, including GP practices, pharmacy, social work and social care. https://www.gov.scot/news/scotlands-new-health-and-social-care-app/ The NHS England app does claim to include GP services and pharmacies but has no link to social work or social care. https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/social-prescribing-reference-guide-and-technical-annex-for-primary-care-networks/ Talking-up Scotland’s special crowd funder has closed but you can support at any time at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details or by direct bank transfer method – Bernadette/John … Continue reading Scotland’s own NHS app can do more than Mr Streeting’s app!

From the Scottish government’s news site YESTERDAY and, as far as we can see reported by no other media outlet than the Highland Times. Thanks to cuckooshoe for alerting us to this: The number of operations performed in July was the highest in five years, according to Public Health Scotland statistics published today. The data shows that 23,470 operations were carried out in July, an 8.9% increase compared to July of last year. This figure is the highest since February 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the past 12 months to July 2025, a total of 265,060 operations were performed, … Continue reading NHS Scotland Hits Five-Year High for operations but who will tell you that?