Talking-up Scotland costs nothing so donate to our friends at  https://www.broadcastingscotland.scot/donate/ or take out a subscription to my favourite, nearly 100 year-old, paper-based, to your door, Scots Independent newspaper, at: https://scotsindependent.scot/FWShop/product-category/subscriptions/ The above, from a Freedom of Information request, to the Scottish Government, published today, reveals that, for the most part, the relative level of excess deaths in Scotland (black line) was significantly lower than in the other three nations and, especially so, in Conservative-run England and Labour-run Wales. Given that Scotland often has lower background health outcomes and an older population, this can only be attributed to SNP Government management of and effectiveness … Continue reading Better-performing NHS in Scotland meant fewer excess deaths than in other 3 nations

Talking-up Scotland costs nothing so donate to our friends at  https://www.broadcastingscotland.scot/donate/ or take out a subscription to my favourite, nearly 100 year-old, paper-based, to your door, Scots Independent newspaper, at: https://scotsindependent.scot/FWShop/product-category/subscriptions/ How much have they already got in those usable reserves? At 31 March 2023, local authorities held £4,532 million of usable reserves. https://www.gov.scot/news/local-government-expenditure-and-income-in-2022-23/#:~:text=At%2031%20March%202023%2C%20local,be%20repaid%20from%20future%20revenues. £4.5 BILLION! Talking-up Scotland costs nothing so donate to our friends at  https://www.broadcastingscotland.scot/donate/ or take out a subscription to my favourite, nearly 100 year-old, paper-based, to your door, Scots Independent newspaper, at: https://scotsindependent.scot/FWShop/product-category/subscriptions/ Continue reading Local authority funding fact check – they had a SURPLUS of almost £100 million last year from SNP Government support to add to the £4.5 BILLION they already have!

From Public Health Scotland today: There was one case of laboratory-confirmed measles reported in 2023, in the last quarter of the year. This case was acquired outwith Scotland. Prior to this, the last laboratory-confirmed case, the first since 2019, was a single case in 2022 which was imported from outside the UK.   https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/immunisation-and-vaccine-preventable-diseases-quarterly-report/immunisation-and-vaccine-preventable-diseases-quarterly-report-october-to-december-2023-q4#section-2 Why are measles getting little media attention in Scotland? It’s not looking better together as England reports third-world levels of vaccination. Continue reading News you’re unlikely to hear 4 – Thanks to better vaccine uptake there was one case of measles reported in 2023 and it was acquired outwith Scotland

From Public Health Scotland today: 83.8% of children and young people were seen within 18 weeks of referral, which is an increase from 75.6% for the previous quarter and from the 70.4% for the same quarter ending December 2022. The Scottish Government standard states that 90% of children and young people should start treatment within 18 weeks of referral to CAMHS. 4,531 children and young people started treatment at CAMHS in Scotland. This is a 3.3% decrease from the 4,686 starting treatment in the previous quarter, and a 19.7% decrease from the 5,641 starting treatment in the quarter ending December … Continue reading News you’re unlikely to hear 2 – 84% of children waiting for mental health services seen within target time despite increased demand and after 11% improvement

From Public Health Scotland today: 80.6% of people of all ages started their treatment within 18 weeks of referral, compared to 79.4% of people for the previous quarter, and 81.4% of people for the quarter ending December 2022. The Scottish Government standard states that 90% of people should start their treatment within 18 weeks of referral to psychological therapies. 50% of the people of all ages starting treatment started within 3 weeks of referral. Continue reading News you’re unlikely to hear – 81% waiting for psychological therapy see within target time and 50% within only 3 weeks

The above are Holyrood election polls since last August for the Regional or List Vote. In the Constituency vote, the polls do not include Alba and have never predicted a Labour lead. In the Regional vote, Alba get between 0 and 4% and Labour get a lead over the SNP in 7 out of 27 polls. There’s a pattern. Redfield and Wilton always record at least 2%, never 1% or zero, for Alba. They also found three of their five 3% predictions and their only 4%. Labour have 7 predicted leads and 4 of these are from Redfield & Wilton. … Continue reading Why does this pollster find a bigger Alba and Labour