Alasdair Galloway A couple of days ago, I took some exception to a short letter in the Herald from well-known Unionist Martin Redfern. It read FM’s pointless foot stamping READER’S Digest version of Nicola Sturgeon’s current constitutional posturing: hijacking the general election to stage a de facto referendum is a foot-stamping exercise since the law doesn’t allow her to hold as many referendums as she wishes, whenever she chooses. It’s immaterial whether she gets more or less than 50% of the vote – the UK and therefore the EU and UN won’t recognise her interpretation of the result. End of. … Continue reading Is London going for the Madrid solution?

In the Guardian today: Ambulance workers across England intend to strike before Christmas after voting in favour of industrial action over pay and staffing levels. Unison, the UK’s biggest trade union, announced the results of its month-long NHS strike ballot and said thousands of 999 call handlers, ambulance technicians, paramedics and their colleagues working for ambulance services in the north-east, north-west, London, Yorkshire and the south-west are to take industrial action. Health workers belonging to Unison in Northern Ireland have already voted to take action over pay and staffing. In Scotland, Unison is recommending that its NHS members vote to accept the … Continue reading Will Scottish Tories accuse Humza Yousaf of preventing life-threatening ambulance strike as deal is accepted only by Unison in Scotland?

Let me get this right. The Scottish Government gave £128 million to Ferguson Marine, wholly owned by Jim McColl, and his company spent it on something but they didn’t keep a record? So, the buck stops where? McColl? Would the bosses have done such a thing without approval from the owner? Does that headline need a wee tweak? Continue reading Hell hath no Ferry II: Shipyard owner ‘steals’ from Scottish taxpayers?

According to the BBC, 1 in 10 Scots, 1 in 8 English, 1 in 7 N Irish and a shocking 1 in 5 Welsh are on hospital waiting lists. Full details here: NHS Scotland has fewer on waiting lists than any other part of UK and only half that pro rata of Labour-run Wales According to Public Health Scotland in 2021 ‘the headcount of GPs in Scotland is 5,195. This is a rise of 74 GPs compared to last year.‘ https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/general-practice-gp-workforce-and-practice-list-sizes/general-practice-gp-workforce-and-practice-list-sizes-2011-2021/ According to the BBC in 2019: Scotland has the highest number of GPs per head of population in the … Continue reading If we’re at a ‘tipping point’ then the rest of the UK must already be in the tip

First thing, headlined, by BBC Scotland today: A record number of people have died in Scottish prisons in the past three years, despite promises from ministers to tackle the issue. A report seen by the BBC says more than 120 people died between January 2020 and September this year, including 29 by suicide. Note the usual adding up to get a big number for a headline. Prof Sarah Armstrong of Glasgow University then goes on to tell us: And when you have such a high rate of death in prison, a higher suicide rate, a higher drug death rate than … Continue reading Whitabootery is good for BBC Scotland when it’s bad for us but when it’s good for us it’s bad for them

In the Daily Record last week: Health secretary should be ‘sacked’ for NHS Ayrshire & Arran’s A&E wait times Two MSPs have accused the Scottish Government’s Health Secretary of ‘failing to get a grip’ on NHS Ayrshire & Arran’s A&E waiting times. South Scotland Regional List MSPs Sharon Dowey and Colin Smyth, have both told how Humza Yousaf should be sacked for his ‘mismanagement’ of the lengthy waiting times. https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/ayrshire/msp-should-reduce-nhs-ayrshire-28514656 What are the facts here? In October 2022, NHS England A&E departments saw only 54.8% of those attending within 4 hours. Barking, Havering And Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust saw only 33.6% within 4 hours. NHS … Continue reading NHS wait times: Stunning hypocrisy of Tory and Labour list MSPs, Dowey and Smyth, in S W Scotland

At 06:30am, BBC Scotland announced: The cost of living crisis has left many unpaid carers feeling invisible, undervalued and under pressure. Cut to the Director of the Carers Trust Scotland, Louise Morgan, who opened with a fact (alarm bells): In Scotland we are slightly better off because there’s a carers allowance supplement. By the 07:30 report, she had gone. Reporting Scotland have dropped the story. Continue reading Carers expert dropped by BBC after saying Scottish carers ‘better off’

the next couple of weeks whether to accept this but won’t be making any recommendation. So, that’s a result for the Scottish Health Secretary. Nurses in Scotland are to be consulted on the Scottish government’s latest pay offer, their union has announced. The offer would mean a pay rise of 11.3% for the lowest paid and an average rise of 7.5%, the government said when it outlined the proposal last week. How have the other 3 health secretaries been doing? It comes as the RCN confirmed that up to 100,000 nursing staff will take part in their biggest ever strike across England, … Continue reading Yousaf gets a result other health secretaries can’t

More than 1 in 10 people in Scotland is now on an NHS waiting list. Reporting Scotland headline the above and Lisa Summers refers, evidence free, to lists being 50% longer and staff and bed shortages. From BBC Health on 8 September: The backlog in hospital treatment continues to grow with nearly one in eight people now waiting for operations or other types of care in England. The newly-released NHS England data shows there were 6.84 million people on the waiting list at the end of July. It is a record number – before the pandemic there were 4.2 million … Continue reading NHS Scotland has fewer on waiting lists than any other part of UK and only half that pro rata of Labour-run Wales

Today BBC Scotland have: Queen Elizabeth University Hospital records worst A&E waiting times https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-63793352 They know it’s stupid, I’m sure, but BBC Scotland and the press love to jump on a bad one-week stat to get a headline. One week variations, as our Stats Correspondent, Jamie (12) insists, are meaningless. The 20 November figure of 35.1% follows figures of 42.3%, 45.6% and 40.8% giving a four-week average of 41%. Public Health England only publishes monthly, but in September 2022, 8 NHS England trusts did less well than QEUH. No part of BBC England News has shown any interest in these … Continue reading Queen Elizabeth University Hospital does far better than reported