From Liam McArthur (Dim Leb Orkney) in Holyrood yesterday: To ask the Scottish Government what the occupancy rate is of the separation and reintegration units (solitary confinement) operational in Scottish prisons, broken down by institution. Humza Yousaf: I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows: On 30 October 2019 there were 121 people in our care temporarily residing in SPS’ Separation and Reintegration Units (SRUs). Click to access WA20191114.pdf Continue reading Dim Leb disappointed by lack of overcrowding in Scottish prison units

As the Guardian breaks ranks with the other media, prompted by my correction, to reveal that NHS England A&E is a staggering 20% less effective than NHS Scotland with only 74.5% as opposed to 89.2% seen in 4 hours, BBC Scotland ignore the facts and go for two single cases of alleged failure. The child infection death story is an unsubstantiated case from 2017 fed to BBC Scotland by a Labour politician. Hospital-acquired infection deaths are, of course, much lower than they were under Labour administrations but longer-term trends, of clear public interest, are not mentioned. The editorial decision to … Continue reading BBC Scotland’s proxy war against the SNP is now in election mode and the Health Secretary is first in line

Today, we heard: Allegations emerged that a child died as a result of contamination at a Glasgow hospital.’ Now, it’s one case from 2017 based only on hearsay and there’s a later admission that a bacterial infection was [only] ‘a significant factor’ and thus the death was NOT as a result of the contamination. Of course we hear nothing of the FACT that hospital acquired infections have fallen dramatically in the last ten years: https://www.hps.scot.nhs.uk/data/healthcare-associated-infection-quarterly-epidemiological-commentary/ I probably don’t need to tell you any of this, but the trail of blood goes all the way back to January 20th: Pigeon droppings … Continue reading Reporting Scotland’s bloodlust for dead patients continues unsated for nearly a year and it’s not good for you

As Reporting Scotland headline an alleged child death from a hospital infection, everywhere else in the BBC is headlining the worst ever A&E performances and even understating the crisis. In NHS Scotland A&E departments, in October 2019, 89.3% were seen within 4 hours. https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Emergency-Care/Publications/2019-11-05/Summary/index.asp In NHS England Type 1 A&E departments, only 74.5% were seen within 4 hours. The figure for all departments was 83.6% https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ae-waiting-times-and-activity/ae-attendances-and-emergency-admissions-2019-20/ I’ve explained already why only Type 1 departments can be compared with Scottish A&E departments and how counting Type 2 (‘Elastoplast’) departments’ performance at 98% softens and confuses the overall average figure. NHS Scotland’s … Continue reading ‘Worst-ever’ NHS England A&E performance is nearly 20% worse than NHS Scotland

Reporting Scotland were keen to tell you that unemployment is higher, and employment is lower, in Scotland than for the UK as a whole. Of course, any fool knows there is no point in comparing a country of 5.4 million with one of 65 million which contains within it one of the world’s megacities, massively over-populated, centrally subsidised and economically overheated. Ignored by BBC Scotland’s team of researchers and presenters, the full ONS data, below, show us that Scotland has essentially the same unemployment rate as most of England other than in the overheated south and better than in the … Continue reading Scotland’s unemployment rate same or better than comparable parts of UK but BBC Scotland won’t tell you that

Thanks to Kathleen Barr for alerting me to this. ‘Only the SNP can stop them. I know it’s hard to stop voting Labour but put Ayrshire, Carrick and Cumnock first.’ From the Financial Times on October 30th 2019: [T]he arrangements for Northern Ireland under the Brexit deal — which keeps it in the EU’s customs union and elements of its single market, while also guaranteeing Northern Irish businesses and farmers “unfettered access” to the rest of the UK — could have far-reaching consequences for Scotland.  “Scotland will therefore not only lose the benefits of EU, single market and customs union membership, … Continue reading How the South Ayrshire Tories will sacrifice our fishing and fish processing industry

Thanks to a parliamentary question on Monday, from Monica Lennon: ‘What minimum number of radiologists will be required to meet patient need in the next (a) five and (b) 10 years?’ we can see that radiology trainees have been increased by 30 per year to take the training establishment up by 75% to 179 in 2022. Click to access WA20191111.pdf Earlier reports on radiology staffing showing lack of crisis in Scotland contrary to some media reports: Radiography staffing vacancies running at ‘healthy’ 5% in Scotland Contrary to this morning’s Reporting Scareland, Scotland has more than its share of Radiology Consultants 45% more … Continue reading Trainee radiologist numbers in Scotland up 75% in only 5 years to meet demand

YouGov’s poll on 7th and 8th November, has some interesting data on attitudes toward taxation and nationalisation which suggest quite clear differences between the people of Scotland and those of the South of England. On raising the basic tax rate to 21% to spend more on public services and infrastructure, 43% of Scots supported this but only 33% of those in the South of England would. At the higher rates, the gap was smaller, but Scots were more supportive of the idea. On nationalising the energy companies, 51% of Scots supported the idea and only 19% opposed it but for … Continue reading Progressive, leftist values: Scotland and the Deep South

As large parts of England flood, the Scottish Government launches a new action plan to further improve the management of flood risk and I’m reminded of a 2016 report here in response to Reporting Scotland letting someone claim unchallenged that protection was better in England. The new plan is here but there is a longer story to tell, below: https://www.gov.scot/publications/living-flooding-action-plan-delivering-property-flood-resilience-scotland/ As far back as 2006, researchers at the English College of Estates Management, whose patron is HRH Prince of Wales, made a number of highly encouraging comments about the achievements of the Labour-run Scottish Executive, SEPA and the Local Authorities: … Continue reading Comparing Storm and Flood Protection in Scotland and England

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