Continue reading Entitled johnnies and grilling

I missed the Fostering Network’s State of the Nation report in February 2019 despite, I feel sure, blanket coverage by our MSM. It was worth reading and reporting as it contains a number of statistics suggesting foster carers in Scotland are treated better than their counterparts in non-Scottish regions. Here are the highlights: Only 41 per cent of foster carers say that they will continue to foster for ‘as long as I am able’. This sentiment was highest in Northern Ireland, at 46 per cent. When it comes to uncertainty about when they will stop, Scotland is lowest here with … Continue reading Research reveals foster carers treated better in Scotland, but report is rejected by BBC Scotland on advice from their Conservative minders

Dear Boris: Astonishingly low level of operation ‘cancellations’ due to lack of staff and resources despite major increase in demand Reporting Scotland Down misses more Scottish cancer patients treated within target time ahead of NHS England Continue reading Propaganda on hospital deaths and cancer delays

In a 151-page report by the General Medical Council there are no comparative statistics revealing any differences between Scotland and the UK. I often ask for such to be shared with me but never get them. I either get no response at all or I’m told, defensively, that the Scottish sample is too small or that the results are just the same. However, perhaps inadvertently, they have revealed one key difference in this paragraph on page 12: The eighth National GP Worklife Survey in England, published in 2017, reported the lowest levels of job satisfaction among GPs and revealed the … Continue reading Scottish GPs 25% less likely to quit than others across UK

In a report published two weeks ago, the UN Refugee Agency has drawn attention to the Scottish Government’s efforts to protect unaccompanied refugee children and has contrasted that with the lack of such care in England & Wales. Readers may remember earlier evidence of a different approach here: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2019/09/26/scotland-has-pioneering-approach-to-supporting-refugee-children/ https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2019/10/12/scotland-is-different-as-it-protects-unaccompanied-children-seeking-asylum/ Extracts from the report: Law and policy setting out the provision of guardianship services across the UK is varied. The service is most developed in Scotland, where the Scottish Government has fully funded the Scottish Guardianship Service for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and child victims of trafficking since 2013, managed and … Continue reading Early days of a better nation? UN praises Scottish Government again

Only BBC Northern Ireland is reporting this. It’s nowhere else, England, Wales, Scotland, even on business pages yet the implications for Scotland and Ayrshire, in particular, are worrying. These extracts are the key points: A trade expert [Professor Alan Winters director of the UK Trade Policy Observatory] has suggested more than 60% of goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain could be subject to tariffs under the Brexit deal.  Northern Ireland would remain part of the UK’s customs territory under the deal. But goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain and deemed at risk of being moved to the Republic … Continue reading How Tory EU trade deal for Northern Ireland will sacrifice Ayrshire businesses

As BBC UK moves on from a single day of reporting a serious crisis in NHS England, affecting thousands, BBC Scotland hammers viewers for a third day with unreliable tabloid material based on naked political scheming and exploiting patient trauma. The internet is, however, buzzing with indignation as politically savvy activists share the exposure of the fake news. Meanwhile the by-election results and the opinion polls, so far, show the independence movement’s shock troops, the SNP, driving on toward success in December’s election, apparently unaffected. The collateral effects of this propaganda campaign, in terms of increased NHS staff and patient, … Continue reading Third day of BBC Scotland’s bloody NHS Offensive

‘Stricter [fire] safety rules leave Scotland out of danger’ The English media spot the difference. Did BBC Scotland? ‘High rise fires in Scotland at lowest level in eight years’ Continue reading Recent tweets: Gogglebox anti-Scots, tree-planting, hospital bugs again and fire!

As we head toward General Election 2019 with SNP support averaging a floor-wiping 46%, BBC Scotland, yesterday and today, headline and dramatise a single unsubstantiated case from 2017, based on the heartless exploitation of heart-broken parents by the Scottish opposition parties. Only the Scottish Conservatives have called for a resignation. BBC Scotland’s editorial team have chosen to lead on this and to construct a crisis out events which BBC England and Wales would not. Yesterday it was NHS Scotland too, based on anecdotal evidence from a handful of traumatised women, linked to ‘ineffective treatments’ in England and with the first … Continue reading As SNP support soars politicising the NHS ONLY on BBC ‘Scotland’

I’m unusually grateful to Alex Cole-Hamilton for drawing my attention to the above report. He managed to find something slightly negative about information on ward procedures to ask the Health Secretary about yesterday. What, lack of information? Heads must roll! Contact Lisa at the BBC. Anyhow, I thought I’d have a look at the full report and, surprise, surprise, Cole-Hamilton has not drawn our attention to some very positive stuff about the experience of children in Scottish hospitals. I feel sure Reporting Scotland would love to report on it and use that cute photograph too. Either of them I suppose. … Continue reading Lib Dem draws our attention to glowing report on Children in Hospital in Scotland