Without presenting any actual statistics, BBC Scotland staff groomed staff in Edinburgh to tell us, out of context, how bad things are. Straight comparisons are slightly problematic but still possible. In March 2022 (the latest) NHS England ambulances for Category 1 cases had a mean response time of 9 minutes and 35 seconds while for NHS Scotland the equivalent category (purple), the median was 7 minutes and 4 seconds. Why use median instead of mean? It’s best to use the mean when the distribution of the data values is symmetrical and there are no clear outliers. It’s best to use … Continue reading Scottish ambulance response times compare well with NHS England

By stewartb: Published today (10 May) are the latest performance data for A&E waiting times in NHS Scotland. Nothing appearing (yet!) on the BBC News website – no headline, no article. I wonder why? In the week ending 1 May, 2022 compliance with the 4 hour waiting time target improved to 71.6%. This is the best performance in the past c.3 months and follows steady improvement across recent weeks. Notably, NHS Tayside which had 1,597 ‘attendances’ in the week attained a 92% performance against the 4 hour target. (Still puzzled why health journalists and opposition politicians don’t press the obvious … Continue reading Has BBC Scotland’s Lisa Summers missed the emergency waiting times improvement?

As the opposition parties and our MSM feast on unsubstantiated scare stories about the QEUH, it’s worth looking at real evidence of how well it is doing. No Scottish hospital has a higher than expected mortality rate and QEUH has one of the lower scores in Scotland, at 4.7% compared to the average of 4.95%. In England, 11 trusts had higher than predicted mortality with, for example, Norfolk and Norwich having 505 more deaths than the 2 600 predicted. QEUH had nearly 300 fewer deaths than the 3 225 predicted. Readers may remember that NHS Scotland has nearly twice as … Continue reading Glasgow super hospital safer than the average

By stewartb The New Economics Foundation (NEF) published in January 2022 a research report entitled: ‘CLOSING THE DIVIDE: HOW TO REALLY LEVEL UP THE UK’. In many respects from a Scotland perspective it’s a disappointing piece of work: notwithstanding its title, much of the content only refers to the English regions. However, there is one chart in the NEF report (Figure 1) that does includes information on Scotland – and it’s interesting! It shows the extent to which the gap in disposable incomes – between highest and lowest halves of the UK’s income distribution – has changed since 2019: On … Continue reading Gap in incomes in Scotland narrower than other UK nations and regions

Fed by the Lib Dem’s Liam McArthur, the Herald repeats his exaggerated response to the news that there is no ‘confirmed timetable for the consultation process’ into a Scottish equivalent for a scheme which need not launch until 2025, after the 2nd independence referendum and possible re-entry of Scotland into the EU, with a consequent return to Erasmus funding. At the Spending Review 2021, the UK Government confirmed funding for the Turing Scheme for the next three years, including maintaining total funding for mobilities and delivery of the scheme at £110 million for the 2022/23 Academic Year.  https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5802/cmselect/cmscotaf/1252/report.html Continue reading Erasmus to run until 2024 so…

375 000 times by water companies last year! BBC 1 at 1pm today announced the above shocking figure. In Scotland, according to the Ferret and the National there were 12 725 incidents in the same year. How does that compare? Well, do we do the usual 10 times the population thing or take account of Scotland’s area or quantity of water supply? On that basis, per head of population, England’s water companies are discharging sewage more than three times as often. In terms of area England is less than twice as big at 130 000 sq km to 78 000, … Continue reading Is England polluting its rivers and lakes with raw sewage up to 300 times more intensively?

From the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) in SNP Media today: Scotland has the largest share of UK exports of food and drink products – with the industry in Scotland making up [nearly?] one-third of total exports out of the UK – making the sector worth £5.7billion. A report from the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) shows Scotland’s food and drink sector has shown significant growth and is recovering from the impacts of the pandemic. FDF has said Scotland’s industry continues to ‘punch above its weight’. Exports of salmon increased by 20.6%, while those of whisky rose by 18.6%. France … Continue reading 8% of the population 30% of the UK’s food and drinks exports!

From the Royal Bank of Scotland’s purchasing managers’ index today but not noticed by BBC Scotland Business: Business activity improved for the fourteenth consecutive month in April,according to the latest Royal Bank of Scotland PMI®, as the seasonallyadjusted headline Royal Bank of Scotland Business Activity Index – ameasure of combined manufacturing and service sector output – rose to 58.9in April, up from 58.4 in March and indicating a faster increase in privatesector output. The latest uptick was supported by a strong and renewedupturn in manufacturing production, although a sharp expansion in servicesactivity was recorded once again. Moreover, the rate of … Continue reading BBC fail to notice Scotland’s businesses growing faster than UK

Headlining in the Herald today: Dr Graeme Eunson described the situation in A&E departments as “horrific” and said he fears the health service is heading towards a “twin-track” system where people who can afford to pay will get better care. https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/20111995.bma-leader-warns-scotland-headed-two-tier-healthcare/ Using the same stock photograph from 2021, Eunson is presented as a ‘top consultant.’ He may be that too but he is first and foremost, a trade union leader with a priority role to promote his members’ interests. Eunson has featured before here presenting unreliable survey results from the BMA suggesting consultants are unhappy with their tax bills or that too … Continue reading Herald and doctors’ trade union leader too close for comfort