Since it opened, the new Southern General has been the subject of repeated opposition and BBC Scotland attacks on its performance, typically based on statistically insignificant cases and disgruntled whistle-blowers to Drivetime. However, the facts are the facts and today once more, the QEUH is revealed as having a standardised mortality rate similar to all other Scottish hospitals, within the safe limits met by them all. In addition, noting the reservations in using crude data, it is interesting, in the light of the attacks, that the QEUH has one of the lowest crude mortality rates in Scotland at 4.8%, below … Continue reading Scotland’s allegedly troubled super-hospital has one of lowest death rates

From Alasdair Galloway: Just in case anyone doesn’t know, there have been two referenda on whether Quebec should leave Canada, becoming an independent state. These were in 1980 when No won by 59.56 to 40.44% 1993 when the outcome was even closer – 49.42 Yes to 50.58 No The history of this is a topic all by itself. What I want to explore here is how the Canadians reacted to their whisker thin success in 1993 and then subsequently some of their strategies during the referendum debate. The most important reaction post the 1993 referendum was the Clarity Act. Its … Continue reading The  Canada Playbook: Learning from Quebec

The clearly shocked Sandesh Gulhane, above, after quickly getting his scrubs on for the cameras, during his one day-a-week practising to maintain his registration as the Tory ‘doc’, pops up on Reporting Scotland with a hair-raising claim to keep the NHS Scotland ‘crisis’ narrative going. The actual report is of one GP practice in Tayside, ‘Friockheim’ having to close, due to losing its last GP. Gulhane is allowed to say the situation in Friockheim ‘is not unique’ and that there are wider shortages. No wider data is offered to reinforce or contradict that. Then again, is anything not unique? Friockheim, … Continue reading Proxy war on SNP politicising the NHS

In this morning’s Reporting Scotland insert at 08:28am: The First Minister will update parliament on the Covid situation later, with face mask in schools expected to be one of the matters in her statement. The Scottish Conservatives have been calling for an end to face coverings in secondary schools but last week Nicola Sturgeon said caution was prudent. Here’s our political reporter Jenni Davidson: ‘Last week, the First Minister said we may be close to the time when face coverings no longer need to be worn in the classroom, but we had not reached that stage yet. Nicola Sturgeon said … Continue reading Selective reporting on face masks in schools to polarise the debate and champion the Tories

As anticipated, the biggest teacher union, the EIS, is demanding the continuation of face mask wearing in classrooms. This puts them in direct opposition to the wishes of the Scottish Conservatives and those parent groups often wheeled on to BBC Scotland to attack the SNP Government’s precautionary approach. At the end of January, the fearsome Oliver Mundell told Nicola Sturgeon to drop the masks. Commonly BBC Scotland is able to use the EIS to attack the Scottish Government on returning pupils to school sooner than they’d like, before then quickly turning to the Tories and the parent groups to attack … Continue reading Will teachers vs Tories facemask war be televised?

ICU cases have been falling steadily since mid-January, 24 today and below 30 for the last week. This contrasts with the peak of more than 100 in September 2021. The death rate too has fallen to 1.65 per 100 000, just above that in Wales but significantly below that in England at 2.57. The ICU rate in England remains almost twice as high as in Scotland, pro rata, at 391 per 100 000. These are not random or accidental variations but must be a product of policy differences. BBC News is not reporting any of the above. Continue reading ICU cases lowest for 7 months

As NHS England sinks silently into despair, unremarked upon by whoever Labour UK’s shadow health minister is or by BBC UK, BBC Scotland allows a part-time GP and Tory MSP, with whatever Jackie Baillie is, to allege a crisis in NHS Scotland. There is no evidence. NHS Scotland’s A&E services continue to massively outperform those in the rest of the UK. Staffing in terms of nurses is 50% higher and, in terms of consultants and GPs, significantly higher than in England. Sandesh Gulhane’s ridiculous claim that we were slow to relax restrictions flies in the face of the clear evidence … Continue reading NHS? There is only a crisis in BBC journalism

We all know the pensions scare served the No side well in 2014 and that the current attempt to unnerve the older voter could be dangerous, if played Goebbels-style all the way to the next referendum, but it’s still a big lie and the Herald’s Smith knows it. Look at this: First, yes, there is no pot but there is politics. Millions across the globe have paid into the UK very basic pension and continue drawing it today. Why are the Scots only at risk? Second, Blackford did not say ‘Scotland’s pensions would be paid for by a foreign government.‘ … Continue reading Mark Smith wickedly stirs the pensions pot

National Audit Office on Westminster: ’lacks evidence on whether the billions of pounds of public funding it has awarded to local bodies in the past for supporting local growth have had the impact intended’. By stewartb – a long read The corporate media and BBC in Scotland regularly scan reports from Audit Scotland for quotable negatives. It’s all part of holding the Scottish Government to account!  However, they rarely if ever inform taxpayers in Scotland what the National Audit Office (NAO) concludes about the Westminster government’s management of public finances. It’s as if individuals and businesses in Scotland who pay … Continue reading ‘Levelling up’ – policy imposed in Scotland without competence?

With 10 times the population and all things being equal, you might expect England to havee 10 times the number of Covid patients in ICU. You might even, given out shorter life-expectancies and still worse average health outcomes, England to have lower numbers, pro rata, in ICU. However, with the exception of a period in September and October 2021, Scotland has had a lower number in ICU than England has had. October 8th was the last time the rates were broadly the same at 64 and 647. From the middle of January 2022, the number in Scotland’s ICU’s has halved … Continue reading Why are so few in Scotland’s IC units?