From Brian McGowan: In response to COVID-19, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s clinical physics team have converted 100 anaesthetic machines to ventilators. The First Minister thanked clinical physics teams across Scotland in Parliament today for their efforts on increasing ventilator capacity by repurposing equipment. This is part of the board’s overall mobilisation plan to quadruple critical care capacity to cope with COVID-19, as requested by the Scottish Government. Patients with coronavirus often have difficulty breathing and ventilators are used in hospital to help with this. A team of 12 technicians in the past few days converted the medical equipment at … Continue reading NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde convert 100 anaesthetic machines to ventilators

From stewartb: The Scottish Government announced today that NHS Scotland’s staff have helped boost the stock of ventilators that are so crucial for the care of those suffering from COVID-19. This has been achieved by repurposing more than 200 anaesthetic machines. These machines, normally used in operating theatres outwith intensive care units (ICU), will supplement the stock of specialised ICU ventilators. Source: https://www.gov.scot/news/anaesthetic-machines-boost-ventilator-capacity/ Importantly, this use of repurposed machines increases ICU bed availability to more than 500. It is also reported that more ventilators for NHS Scotland have been ordered from a range of manufacturers and these will arrive over … Continue reading More evidence of Scotland’s COVID-19 preparedness

From Criminal Proceedings in Scotland 2018-19 published on 31st March: The total number of people proceeded against in Scottish courts fell by 6% to 89,733 in the year to 2018-19, according to National Statistics published by Scotland’s Chief Statistician today. This is the same as the fall in the number of people convicted, down 6% to 78,503. This continues the general downward trend of the last ten years. Falls in convictions for breach of the peace and common assault continued in 2018-19, down 13% and 12% respectively. There were also notable falls in the number of convictions for crimes against … Continue reading Scotland has lowest murder rate in UK as crime continues to fall

27 times in one meeting at Holyrood, on Monday 30th March 2020, Jackie Baillie (Labour Branch), asked a question about COVID-19. I liked this one: To ask the Scottish Government how long it takes for symptoms of COVID-19 to be displayed. Isn’t that on your phone Jackie? Essentially she was asking: ‘What is the sum total of all the knowledge in the world about COVID-19 and what are YOU doing to make sure I don’t catch it?’ Needless to say all of it that anyone could be expected to actually know could have been provided by her researcher. Don’t tell … Continue reading Labour MSP asks 27 time-consuming questions in one meeting to beat her previous record

I know that not a lot of people read the Herald but the ones at Pacific Quay do and, in this time of disease, they’re getting big fearful audiences again (500 000?). So, it’s all wrong, once again, and it’s wrong in a way to scare us badly when we don’t really need any further scaring to know how to behave sensibly, as our NHS and Government work to save us. Even before we get to that graph which has been scaring folk across our MSM, the Herald opens with this arbitrary arithmetic to exaggerate our plight as evidence of … Continue reading The Herald’s never-ending problems with the truth, revealed graphically

Why is the FM the image of death when the PM never is even though he is responsible for the whole catastrophe? The UK average mortality rate has climbed to 8% less than 1% point behind Spain, after today’s surge of 563. In Scotland, the 16 new deaths leave the mortality rate as it has been for 7 days at around 3%. The 518 deaths today in England reveal a shocking rate per head of population more than three times higher than in Scotland. England has around ten times the population so, all things being equal, would only have 160 … Continue reading Scotland’s mortality rate is less than one-third per head of population of England’s yet the FM is the image of death

We know the Conservative UK Government played with our lives for ideological ‘pro-business’ reasons, delayed the lock-down and forgot to order ventilators. Now coronavirus deaths in England are spiraling out of control but the BBC in England is going to help them hide from public anger by just not mentioning them: The UK’s 563 deaths are not presented here, so as to conceal the awful truth of what the Tories have done to England and, especially to London. A decade of under-funding, privatisation and meddling, followed by the failure to lockdown early enough or to order enough equipment and English … Continue reading There are Scottish, Welsh and N Irish deaths, even UK deaths but no English deaths because who would be to blame for them?

From stewartb: The general public usually only hears from BMA Scotland when it has a negative message to communicate about Scotland’s government and our NHS.  Now that may be much more to do with the editorial choices of the corporate media and the BBC Scotland.  I’ll leave you to judge from your own experience. However, it is appropriate that – once again – the TUSC fills the media vacuum on balanced reporting. The Scottish Government working with the Scottish GP Committee of BMA Scotland has just (31 March) announced additional funding of £15 million to GP practices to help them … Continue reading Doctors’ union praises ‘huge amount of work’ by Scottish Government

From Teacher Census Supplementary Statistics, published yesterday, we can see that the average ratio of pupils to teachers in Scottish schools has remained at 13.6 to 1 in 2019 and for the previous two years, slightly better than 13.7 to 1 in the previous three years to that. https://www.gov.scot/publications/teacher-census-supplementary-statistics/ Figures for England in 2019 do not seem to be available yet but in 2018 the rate was 16.5 pupils for every teacher. In Wales the the ratio was even worse at 18.7 to 1 and in Northern Ireland 18.2 to 1. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/847318/UKETS_2019_Main_text.pdf Continue reading Reality Check: Scotland’s schools providing more teacher support for all pupils

From School Exclusion Statistics, published yesterday we can see further dramatic falls in temporary school exclusions and with permanent exclusions approaching zero. This contrasts starkly with England where nearly 8 000 were permanently excluded in 2018, by Executive Head Teachers, in pursuit of exam scores and personal bonuses. The wider effects in terms of knife crime by adolescents have been discussed. https://www.gov.scot/publications/school-exclusion-statistics/ More on the English schools Tories love to applaud: The number of permanent exclusions from schools in England has reached its highest point in nearly a decade, according to the latest government statistics.   The figures showed that schoolchildren were permanently expelled on 7,900 occasions … Continue reading Reality check: Scotland’s schools ‘better’ than most?