From BBC Reporting Scotland this morning: A growing pay gap between NHS and social care workers has to be urgently addressed in order to avoid a catastrophe in the sector. That’s according to social care providers, who say pressures on them mean around one in six patients in hospital cannot get out. A 6.5% pay rise for NHS staff like nurses and nursing assistants doesn’t extend to social care workers. The Scottish Government say social care has felt the impact of Brexit, the pandemic and energy price rises, and extra funding has helped deliver tow pay rises in two years. … Continue reading Why should Scottish Government help tax-avoiding corporations to pay care workers a decent wage?

From BBC UK today: Teachers in England will strike on Thursday 27 April and Tuesday 2 May after members of the UK’s largest education union rejected a pay offer. The results of the NEU ballot found that 98% of members were in favour of turning the deal down. Teachers were offered a £1,000 one-off payment this year, and a 4.3% rise next year. Starting salaries would also rise to £30,000 from September. The education secretary said it was “extremely disappointing”. The National Education Union (NEU) described the offer as “insulting” and said it has “united the profession in its outrage”. … Continue reading Only SNP manage to settle teacher strike but it’s still not good enough

From the House of Commons Library briefing on 13 March 2023: Ambulance response times have risen, with the average response to a Category 2 call at over 1 hour30 minutes in December 2022. https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-7281/CBP-7281.pdf From the Scottish Ambulance Service on 19 December 2022: Red incidents [same as cat 2 in England] – Median: 10 minutes 19 seconds; 90th Percentile: 24 minutes 33 seconds. https://www.scottishambulance.com/publications/previous-unscheduled-care-operational-statistics/ Right, this is where having readers smarter than the writer comes in handy. An average of over 90 minutes to get an ambulance for a Category 2 call in England compared with a median of 10 mins and … Continue reading Anger as hundreds of thousands of Brits wait far longer for an ambulance than they do in Scotland

From UK Parliament research briefings on 13 March 2023, in NHS England: The 62-day waiting time standard for cancer (measured from urgent GP referral totreatment) has not been met in recent years. Performance declined between 2013 and 2018. Sincethe pandemic it has fallen further, with 54.4% of patients waiting under 62 days for treatment inJanuary 2023 (target: 85%). https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-7281/CBP-7281.pdf From Public Health Scotland on 13 December 2022: 74.7% of patients started treatment within the 62-day standard, compared with 76.3% in the previous quarter, 83.3% in the quarter ending 30 September 2021, and 83.7% in the quarter ending 31 December 2019 … Continue reading Cancer treatment targets – Scotland is massive 37% better

According to the Scotsman yesterday: A top medic has warned “no practice is safe” after one of Scotland’s largest GP surgeries folded – warning it is “a tipping point which could spread across the country” and lead to the collapse of NHS Scotland. https://www.scotsman.com/health/gp-practice-closures-could-lead-to-the-collapse-of-nhs-scotland-warns-top-medic-4089414 Let’s deal with the ‘folded’ practice. It hasn’t. From NHS Grampian before the Scotsman piece was published: Alex Pirrie, Partnership Manager for Central Aberdeenshire, said: “Inverurie Medical Practice has unfortunately, like many others across the country, found itself in the position of being unable to recruit new, permanent GPs and as a result the Partners have … Continue reading GP practices are safe – this Scottish trade union rep is not a ‘top doctor’ he’s not even a ‘regular’ doctor

BBC Scotland, as far as I can see have missed this important news. The Herald, above, had it on the 1st April but it did not make the front page. Important news: Twelve Scottish Government benefits including Carer’s Allowance Supplement and Best Start Grants will be increased by 10.1% on 1 April, backed by investment of around £430 million. The Scottish Child Payment was increased by 150% in 2022 to £25 per eligible child per week. A total of 13 Scottish Government benefits are now being delivered through Social Security Scotland, seven of which are only available in Scotland. Social … Continue reading SNP Government benefits rise by 10%

In the Record today: A former minister in Tony Blair’s government is seeking to make a comeback at Westminster, almost a decade after losing his seat. Douglas Alexander was in both Blair’s cabinet and that of his successor Gordon Brown. But as the SNP virtually swept the board in the 2015 general election, winning all but three of the Scottish seats at Westminster, Alexander lost his his Paisley and Renfrewshire South seat to Mhairi Black – then a 20-year-old student. He is now seeking to make a return to elected politics, standing as Labour’s candidate for East Lothian in the next general election. … Continue reading Criminal Labour expenses-fiddler and bully to return

Try searching for Conservatives voting Labour and Google also scoffs at the very notion before offering you numerous reports of tactical voting by Labour and Lib Dem supporters to try to keep Cons out but not one where Cons voted tactically. While Cons might vote Lib Dem to keep Labour out, they would never vote Labour to keep Lib Dems out. Cons define themselves less by what they believe in that by what they despise – the rest of us but especially Labour. In Scotland, deluded Unionist Labour supporters do seem to have voted Con to try to defeat the … Continue reading Corrected: SNP Leader scoffs at idea of Tories voting Labour

The last two full Holyrood polls, post-Humza, do look bad; both under 40% SNP support. We’ve now had 4 results under 40%, since mid February 2023 but it’s been worse before. It seems a distant memory but for a whole year from November 2017 to November 2018, SNP support barely crept above 40% and fell below that six times. By the end of 2019, after the election of BJ, it soared to 50% and above for more than 20 polls, peaking at 58% twice. We were back in the high 40s and 50s at the end of 2021, throughout 2022 … Continue reading SNP support has been far far worse before and we’ve come back stronger than ever

The above image was put together by Nicola Bolognese of P7, Fisherton Primary School in Dunure, Ayrshire, in a workshop based on: Exclusive: Humza Yousaf faces 15 rebel SNP MSPs prepared to challenge government by Kathleen Nutt, in the Herald on Sunday 2 April. Settling down after an outburst of laughter when Nicola presented her idea to the class, Mrs Butcher recorded the best of the class responses to the article. Bobby (11) – The writer says they’re going to rebel but then quotes them saying they won’t vote against Humza. Marie (10) – The writer says that this group … Continue reading Herald praised for providing best ever Media Studies spoof for Primary pupils