Not in the Scotsman, above: The British Heart Foundation also publish comparisons of stroke mortality rates within the UK(figure 9). The mortality rates in Scotland were higher than England, Wales and NorthernIreland for most of the last 50+ years. However, the absolute gap in mortality rates narrowedover this time. Hospital activity data relating to cerebrovascular disease in England, Wales and NorthernIreland are available separately. Please note that these figures are sometimes not directlycomparable with published data from Scotland due to differences in recording and definitions. https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/media/17341/2023-01-24-stroke-report.pdf Continue reading Risk of stroke continues to fall and gap with rUK narrows

This would normally be right up there as a headline story, is still available if you look for it, and was briefly prominent last night but has now disappeared from their headline stories at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/scotland It seems also to be of no interest to Reporting Scotland nor to any of the other BBC nations. The Herald had it up last night but it’s go from their front page today. You can still see the Herald piece at: https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/23272208.lives-line-sharp-rise-suspected-drug-deaths-scotland/ but it’s gone from any prominence on their site. I did post ‘Is the dramatic fall in Scotland’s drug deaths for 2022 … Continue reading Drug deaths ‘increase’: Why have BBC Scotland and Herald ‘dropped’ this report?

BBC Scotland and the other MSM have: Increase in suspected drugs deaths across Scotland. The number of suspected drug deaths in Scotland increased towards the end of 2022, new figures show. In the first nine months of last year, figures published by Public Health Scotland (PHS) showed a 21% reduction in the number of fatal overdoses. However, numbers began to rise in later months, with 109 deaths in November alone. This is higher than the same month in both 2021 (89) and 2020 (93). The report states that suspected drug deaths increased between October and November but figures for October … Continue reading Is the dramatic fall in Scotland’s drug deaths for 2022 being hidden?

From Public Health Scotland today: The number of drug-related hospital admissions between July and September 2022 (2,024) were [sic] considerably lower compared to the same time period in 2020 (3,643) and 2021 (3,033). https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/rapid-action-drug-alerts-and-response-radar-quarterly-report/rapid-action-drug-alerts-and-response-radar-quarterly-report-january-2023/#section-2 In only two years, drug-related hospital admissions in Scotland have fallen 44.44%. Who is to blame? Continue reading Massive fall in Scotland’s drug-related hospital admissions reduces pressure on NHS

From Public Health Scotland today: 95.4% of the Scottish population were registered with an NHS dentist as at 30 September 2022. As at 30 September 2022, 87.2% of children were registered, compared to 87.4% on 30 September 2021. As at 30 September 2022, 2.6 million registered patients had seen an NHS dentist within the last two years (50.4% compared to 43.1% in March 2022). Registered children were more likely than adults to have seen an NHS dentist within the last two years (65.7% compared to 47.2%). https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/dental-statistics-registration-and-participation/dental-statistics-nhs-registration-and-participation-24-january-2023/ Comparative data for England are not available, but according to the Guardian in … Continue reading More than 95% have access to NHS dentistry in Scotland

BBC Scotland: Waiting times at Scotland’s A&E departments have improved, according to the latest figures. Public Health Scotland data showed that of the 20,580 people seeking emergency care during week ending 15 January, 64% were seen during the target time of four hours. This was an increase from 57.2% the previous week and is the best performance since November. However the number of people going to A&E has been decreasing for weeks. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-64385872 A typically grudging response to an 11.8% improvement, contrasting with a tendency to ignore increasing attendances at a time when increasing numbers are waiting. Not of much interest … Continue reading Massive fall in longer A&E waits

 ’A fundamentally dishonest way of reporting data’ – from House of Lords’ committee report on NHS England’s A&E waiting times. On hearing the evidence, Lord Bichard, a cross-bench peer, responded: ‘What you have just said is pretty devastating because the great British public thinks it is one thing but it is far worse.’ A consequence of failing mainstream British journalism, notably the PUBLIC SERVICE broadcaster’s several health ‘experts’? By stewartb The latest assessment of the state of the NHS comes from the House of Lords (HoL) Public Services Committee. This is a diverse body: it has a Labour peer as … Continue reading A&E waiting times: How NHS England and the BBC collude in ‘a fundamentally dishonest way of reporting’

It’s Dr Iain Kennedy again. As recently as 29 December, he was everywhere telling the same tale: Doctor Iain Kennedy is everywhere in the MSM, forecasting doom and scaring the old and vulnerable in a manner quite unworthy of a trained medic As the ever alert MSM Monitor has noted he fails to mention what his UK HQ has reported: NHS would not survive without the contribution of overseas healthcare workers, BMA says https://www.bma.org.uk/bma-media-centre/nhs-would-not-survive-without-the-contribution-of-overseas-healthcare-workers-bma-says Instead, he joins that venal posse of opposition politicians in blaming the ‘SNP Government.’ Again as MSM Monitor has revealed, he seems far too fond of … Continue reading Dr Iain Kennedy again

I keep reporting this in the hope that someone out there will have an evidence-based answer to the question why has Scotland, over the course of the last year and more, had a disproportionately small number of Covid cases requiring to be placed in intensive care. In the last week, England had 50% more and for most of early January 2023, had twice as many. The situation in Wales is even worse. With only three-fifths of the population, it typically has more ICU cases than Scotland. Why? I can find no hard evidence and, strangely, no interest in the phenomenon … Continue reading Still far fewer serious Covid cases in ICU in Scotland – why?

Like all of you more numerate readers out there, I have my reservations about the significance of weekly variations in NHS performance but our friends in the MSM have none such, and love nothing more than to pounce on any suggestion of lowering performance in NHS Scotland. So, in the week ending 8 January 2023: Source: https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/nhs-performs-weekly-update-of-emergency-department-activity-and-waiting-time-statistics/nhs-performs-weekly-update-of-emergency-department-activity-and-waiting-time-statistics-week-ending-08-january-2023/ Continue reading Dramatic fall in longer A&E waits in January