Scotland’s ‘top’ news stories between the 3rd and 5th November 2024. A search for ‘Scotland news early’ on 3-5 November 2022, did not find this, posted by Scot Gov on the 3rd: Families of more than 83,200 children are saving around £5,000 per eligible child per year, thanks to the Scottish Government’s Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) offer. Latest figures show a year-on-year increase in children accessing funded ELC. The number taking up the full offer of 1,140 hours a year is also up from this time last year. If families paid for this themselves, it would cost them around … Continue reading Scotland only part of UK to offer 1 140 hours of funded early learning and childcare not in public interest apparently

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001f2tc/the-sunday-show-series-3-06112022 Many thanks to Andrew Rosie for alerting me to this. This morning on the BBC Scotland Sunday Show, Sir Keir Starmer accused the Scottish Government of ‘total failure‘ because 1 in 7 (14.3%) of people in Scotland are on an NHS waiting list. Neither he, nor of course, the host thought to mention that according to BBC Wales: Waits – from referral to hospital to when a patient is treated – passed 750,000 for the first time as the latest NHS performance figures were published on Thursday, showing a 28th successive month of rising waiting lists. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-63326966 The population … Continue reading Starmer confirms that Labour-run Wales has far, far, worse NHS waiting times lists than SNP Scotland does

It’s how you tell it, if at all – ‘efficiency savings’ or ‘budget cuts’ in Health and Social Care! By stewartb This is prompted by learning of the revisions, including ‘cuts’, to public spending in Scotland announced recently in the Scottish Parliament by John Swinney.  One of the more politically sensitive aspects for the Scottish Government is the decision to vire funds away from certain health service budget lines in order to offer a decent pay rise to NHS Scotland staff. This brings me to the main purpose of this blog post, namely to look at actions being taken by … Continue reading What is the chair of the Scottish Conservatives proposing?

stewartb Harm caused by patient  safety incidents regrettably occurs in all health care settings, usually (and we trust) despite the best professional practice of the medical staff. Media coverage of the more serious incidents could provide a rich, endless seam of stories for journalists should they choose to cover them. And it seems that some are keen to do so, at least in Scotland. The National Reporting & Learning System (NRLS) collects data on patient safety incidents in England and Wales. The primary purpose of the NRLS is TO ENABLE LEARNING from patient safety incidents occurring in the NHS. Reporting … Continue reading 6,872 incidents linked to severe harm and England’s news media look away

From the Herald’s ‘Health’ Correspondent: THEY are only 60 miles apart and see roughly the same number of patients every week – but on A&E performance, Ninewells hospital in Dundee and Forth Valley Royal in Larbert are worlds apart. https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/23101988.tayside-forth-valley-truth-behind-e-stats/ Ninewells has been the best-performing of the larger A&E departments in Scotland for years now but never gets a mention. At last, they think, we can mention it but just to show how bad another A&E department is under the heading ‘startling disparities.’. Here are the facts: In September 2022, NHS Scotland’s A&E departments saw 69& of patients within 4 … Continue reading Scotland’s worst emergency department is 33% better than worst in England

The Herald and STV have been fed this by Scottish Labour. Two deaths at the New Southern General hospital (QEUH) have been ‘linked’ to ‘staffing issues’. Facts, News: In August 2022, 5 835 patients died. The number predicted was 1 679 and so the mortality rate was 4.9%. QEUH has one of the lower mortality rates in Scotland, 27th out of 32 and well below the highest level of 6.04%. https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/scottish-news/scotlands-deadliest-hospitals-nhs-mortality-27785917 All of Scotland’s hospitals, regardless of current vacancies, continue to be within the expected range of mortality and one has a significantly lower (better) -than-expected rate (Western General). The … Continue reading One of best hospitals in the UK treated like dirt by New Racist Labour and friendly hacks

85.4% of NHS staff in England are British. 5.8% report an Asian nationality and 5.4% are EU nationals. Africa? There doesn’t seem to be an equivalent breakdown for Scotland. That’s good. It tells you something you want to not hear about Scotland. We’ve seen UK Labour leaders try to get down and dirty with the Cons before. ‘British jobs for British workers!‘ Gordon Brown 2009. It didn’t work then. It won’t work in two years time either. You can’t outflank the Cons on the right. You need to claim the so-called middle. Are Starmer’s comments challenged by an interviewer from … Continue reading ‘Overseas nurses comin’ over eer, treatin’ my mum!’: New Racist Labour leader reveals ignorance of NHS Scotland

With the Express, I wonder where to begin. Mostly, such is the stench, I can’t be bothered correcting them but, now and again, I think someone might believe their garbage. So, ‘50 attacks‘ – Unison carefully do not tell us how many were physical assaults. Click to access 1-11-22-violence-against-NHS-staff-survey-22-FINAL.pdf In 2018, Unison reported 18 720 physical assaults in England: https://www.unison.org.uk/news/press-release/2018/04/steep-rise-reported-assaults-nhs-staff-says-unison/ So, we can estimate around 1 900 physical assaults in Scotland? Among 160 000 staff, 1 900 represents 1.2%?, 1 in 84 staff. 160 000 staff, each working around 230 shifts per year is 37 million days in which a … Continue reading Scottish Daily Express lies about increasingly lawful ‘SNP Scotland’

Unison, a trade union, does not publish its findings in a way that can be properly scrutinised, picking and choosing, with its press allies, to get a shocking headline. So, I have had to scrabble around to get the data trends from their sites and from newspaper reports. First, two key statements from the above Herald story: The last explanation is commonly the best for understanding supposed increases in crime. NHS Scotland has implemented a simpler, online procedure, which any social scientist might be particularly interested in. However, leaving that aside the reporting is wrong-headed. See this: So, 17 557 … Continue reading Assaults on NHS staff are falling

As crime falls in real terms, even halves in Scotland, media maintain or even increase their reporting or dramatizing of it, people remain or get even more anxious. It’s one of the few direct media effects we know of. Primary fires attended by the Scottish Fire Services have plummeted from more than 40 000 in 2009 to less than 28 000 last year, a steady, and 30% overall, fall in just over a decade. In 2021/2022, there were 76 attacks on fire crew, 1 resulted in an injury. The total number of attacks fell from 99 in 2015/16 to 76 … Continue reading Shouting THEATRE in a half-empty fire? Fire and rescue incidents plummet under SNP Government