In its annual survey of members, 36% said they’d be unlikely to be working as a GP in five year’s time. Some facts: The GP headcount in Scotland increased from 4,400 in 2019 to 4,514 in 2022, an increase of just below 3% Click to access gp_workforce_survey_2022_report.pdf The average age that Scottish GPs retire has been constant for years, at between 58 and 59. There has never been a flood of early retirements. https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-19-00620/ An FoI by the Lib Dems in August 2022, fed to the Sun, found only 126 cases of under-65s retiring, over 7 years. Less than 20 … Continue reading Scotland unlikely to face any major GP shortage in five years

Is even the weather forecast on Reporting Scotland infected with that anxiety-inducing negativity that pervades the rest of their coverage? Maybe I’m over-sensitive to comparisons here, but I had earlier looked at the Met Office site to see if things were going to return to normal in the next few days. They are. By the weekend, we’ll be back up at around 6C in much of Scotland. Even Braemar could hit 4C. Reporting Scotland’s nasal rather than Japanese (Kodai is a male first name), weather-person, above informed us the cold air was ‘going nowhere’ and stopped the forecast at tonight, … Continue reading Reporting Scotland’s cold air ‘going nowhere’ unlike the rest of the UK?

Glasgow Times at 15:05: Unite NHS Scotland members vote to accept improved pay offer Unite has confirmed that an increased pay offer has today been accepted by its NHS Scotland membership. The union’s health membership voted yes by 64% to accept an offer which was put forward two weeks ago following talks with the First Minister, the Health secretary and trade unions. The improved offer represents on average a 7.5% increase across NHS Scotland with up to 11.24 % for the bottom pay bands. Industrial action by Unite which was initially set to hit the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) and the wider NHS Scotland has now been called … Continue reading Local Norfolk press quicker than BBC Scotland to report good news on NHS strike fears

Jarringly, side-by-side, in the Herald, that most ‘individual’ of Yes supporters, Kevin McKenna and the actually very good journalist, Alison Rowat, see the world around the First Minister in quite a different way. McKenna’s piece is a confusing mix of just rumours about the new Westminster leader, Stephen Flynn, the old one, Ian Blackford, and the First Minister, but the following reveals most McKenna’s thinking: Reports that the SNP’s Westminster group is in “turmoil” following his rapid defenestration of Ian Blackford should be treated with scepticism. These have mainly been advanced by the First Minister’s little elves, clinging desperately to … Continue reading Is Sturgeon’s authority ebbing or flowing? Make up your mind

Look at what happened in Scotland when the First Minister asked to meet with me. It was on Friday and by Friday evening, we had suspended our strike dates for Scotland. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001g56h/sunday-with-laura-kuenssberg-could-a-nurses-strike-be-avoided ..you are saying that he would accept less than your original demand. I just want to be clear on this for the viewers. Kuenssberg, of course, did her best to deliberately mis-represent what the RCN leader had said. She was clear, she just wants to talk. Sturgeon will, Sunak won’t. Reporting Scotland? Don’t be daft. Continue reading Nursing leader praises Sturgeon in the morning. BBC Scotland not up at that time?

As the Conservative boarding schoolboys pounced upon supposed similarities between the new SNP leader and Renton from Trainspotting, SNP and independence support has soared. Flynn was elected on 6 December but was being identified as the favourite several days before that. The last 3 full polls, above, around the time when Flynn was being talked about and Blackford supporters such as Wishart were telling the media that a leadership challenge would be damaging. SNP support surging at the same time according to Ipsos MORI. Another SNP Civil War turns out to be a damp squib. Continue reading SNP supporters choosing life with lust for new leader?

Bob Lamont I’m not about to get into a hissing contest over political views because that is precisely what has been abused in this ongoing saga by attempting to exploit the public’s lack of awareness of how Contract Law works and implying political interference. Once the contract is let, absolutely NOBODY can interfere between parties to the contract, it is entirely bound by Contract Law – Were any politician or beneficial owner to attempt to influence the contract in any way it would generate a punitive claim via the arbitrators of the Contract which would make eyes water financially. If … Continue reading Fake Ferry News: Exploiting the public’s lack of awareness of how Contract Law works

From BBC Scotland today: Police Scotland have found no evidence to back up a surge in claims of spiking by injection. Almost 150 people came forward over 12 months saying they could have been drugged by needles in nightclubs. Complaints soared after media coverage in October last year, with almost 60 made in the first week of November. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-63900351 More than a year ago, we had: Between the spring of 1788 and summer of 1790 fifty seven complaints were made to London Magistrates by women alleging that they had been molested and stabbed [on the buttocks] by an individual stranger in … Continue reading Spiking by injection? One more moral panic bites the dust? Trans women in women’s spaces next?

Under a classic ‘adding up to get a big number’ and a scary headline, for mums and dads-to-be: Over 1000 ‘adverse events’ in women and infants’ care the Herald’s Health Correspondent, Helen McCardle adds up the number of events over ten years to get that desired ‘Over 1 000!‘ Well down the page, we get the actual news: For Scotland as a whole there is nothing to indicate that the number of Saers being carried out into adverse events in obstetrics, maternity, gynaecology or neonatal services has increased over the past decade. In most regions, the numbers have fluctuated from … Continue reading Herald concerned as Adverse Events in Women and Infants NOT increasing but adds up the numbers over TEN years to hide the truth and to scare mums-to-be

From BBC Scotland today without a hint of reasoned, critical, assessment: Businessman Jim McColl has helped to fund a new publication aimed at exposing “the truth” about Scotland’s ferry scandal. Copies of the Caledonian Inquirer will be distributed in west coast towns and island communities. Described as a polemical “broadsheet” it includes interviews with ferry experts, politicians and islanders. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-63921383 A ‘polemical broadsheet?’ Just a euphemism for openly biased and frankly, too wee for a broadsheet. Let me get this right. A very rich man, in unhappy because some people blame him, as the owner of a shipyard, for things that went … Continue reading Hell hath no ferry again in Scotland’s Mini-Trumpian [Fake] News