Here’s the thing. On the rollout to those not living in care homes, Scotland is behind England. Why? As readers know, we followed the JCVI advice and spent much of our energy getting the difficult task of vaccinating the most vulnerable done. It’s 98% done. It will never be 100% done. Some residents cannot be done for health reasons. NHS England has sent another letter offering to get it done by the 15th February. They’re not done. Based on their record so far, they won’t be done then either. When Scotland was putting in the effort to save lives in … Continue reading BREAKING: Scotland IS falling behind England

Care homes in England got a letter yesterday offering to vaccinate their residents and staff. The Telegraph seemed a bit confused as to what a vaccine rollout might look like, but they were just helping the UK Government out with that wording. The timing of the letter was no accident. On the 26th of January, NHS England had just failed to vaccinate all care home residents and staff by the 24th, as per their lettered promise on the 13th: On the 26th, HSJ reported that they’d missed the target, presumably had to put Hancock off bragging about it and set … Continue reading Their Offer is as good as their word ie a worthless afterthought

By stewartb Wee yes but not too wee! Certainly not poor! And clearly not stupid – but more importantly, having the agency to use its good sense. It’s the story of Norway. It’s the long term legacy of North Sea oil. This is prompted by an e-mail alert from the data synthesiser, Statista. It has just published (29 January) an account of the world’s major sovereign wealth funds. It tells us about Norway’s. We learn that the Norwegian Government Pension Fund (NGPF) is (still) the largest of any sovereign wealth fund in the world. According to data from the SWF … Continue reading Hard to forget? But harder to be reminded of! Norway and North Sea oil.

After watching the First Minister quietly pointing out that an offer of a vaccine by 15th February is not the same as a needle in your arm last week, Wallace Lockhart returned looking a bit sheepish. Remember he had said earlier and twice that England had done care homes and a higher proportion of the over 80s. Crunching his reverse gear badly he tried this line: This all gets quite technical… Comparing getting a letter offering you a jag at some time in the future and actually having felt a wee prick in the arms last week seems quite an … Continue reading Just embarrassing twaddle on care home vaccinations

Alex Thomson of Channel 4 News today: The facts are that in many areas, Scotland does lag behind other areas in the UK in terms of vaccine rollout. Just tell us candidly and frankly, what mistakes and short-comings have you noted thus far with this. On every other issue, Channel 4 News tends to be better than the others but on Scotland they have a problem it seems. Did Thomson not hear the previous explanations? Does he still think English care homes have been done and not just lettered? In a perverse way, I suppose, he is correct. Scotland does … Continue reading Channel 4 no more?

Today we hear from David Wallace Lockhart: It’s good news when it comes to care homes both in Scotland and England. It appears that everyone, more or less in a care, has been given or at least offered their first jag. What, it could be slightly problematic and Nicola Sturgeon could face questions on today is the fact that England seem to have done that AND a higher proportion of over-80s as well in the community. and then prompted by suggestions of opposition party concerns: It appeared that on some measures, the English system was moving proportionally quite faster (sic). … Continue reading England has not DONE the care homes: The clearest of lies to undermine your ain folk

From Jamie Shuttleworth in the Herald today: Nearly half of family doctors surveyed by a medical body said they are tempted to quit working as general practitioners (GPs) due to the impact of the pandemic. A survey of 280 GPs by the Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland (MDDUS) found that 48% said they were likely to take early retirement or quit the NHS. This is so silly, I should ignore it but I can’t help myself. Dear research lead at MDDU: 280 GPs? Out of more than 5 000? So, 5.6% response rate? Structured or self-response (‘squeaky wheel‘) sample? You … Continue reading Oh no they’re not! FAIL!

In the BBC report today, the facts are there: A Covid vaccine has been offered to residents at every eligible care home in England, the NHS has announced. Prime Minister Boris Johnson described the achievement, expected to be confirmed by official figures on Monday, as a “crucial milestone“. A target of 15 February has been set for the UK to vaccinate care home residents and carers, people over 70 and frontline care workers. The headline chosen by the BBC is one of the four here, the one above or one of the three below. See if you can guess which they went … Continue reading Spot the real headline

BBC 1 tells us this morning: All care home residents in England have now been offered a vaccine and it’s been hailed as an important milestone. Note carefully the language – offered. Later we hear the vaccine has been offered to care homes. Then we hear: In Scotland 94% have now had their first dose. But in England, despite the milestone claim: But NHS England says: and the figures for staff are comparable with the other nations I shouldn’t laugh but really, they’ve just had a letter. The vaccine is still in the warehouses and the comparable figure could be … Continue reading Watch the language as England gets round to ‘offering’ the vaccine for its most vulnerable but it’s far too late for many

Though we’ve had an increase in views for the first time May 2020, the number of visitors fell again, for the 8th month in a row and, dizzyingly, from 177 544 in May 2020 to only 34 640 this month. On the bright side, the extent, relative to overall traffic, and the quality of the debate triggered by posts, I’d argue, has never been more impressive: Comments: January 2021: 1 730 December 2020: 1 345 November: 1 228 October: 1 497 September: 1 263 August: 1 748 July: 1 922 June: 1 336 May: 1 447 Projection of influence (;-)) … Continue reading A select group?