The hypocrisy of these two on cancer waiting times
stewartb You may not need or want yet another case study of the BBC’s ‘distinctive’ editorial practices when it comes to news coverage of public policy matters in Scotland. However, candidly, as an exemplar this takes some beating! The BBC’s coverage today (8 June) of a new report on NHS cancer care makes much of the fact that the problems are found in all four nations of the UK. The BBC News website has this headline: ‘NHS struggling to provide safe cancer care, say senior doctors’. And we are told: ‘The Royal College of Radiologists is warning that all four … Continue reading The hypocrisy of these two on cancer waiting times
The Tories’ favourite trade unionist and not leading doctor pops up again
Headlining in the Herald today: PATIENTS are at risk from a “dangerous” shortage of doctors in some areas with overstretched hospital departments “barely able to provide a service” due to vacancies, a medical leader has warned. It’s Dr Kennedy again, described as a ‘medical leader’ warning of the risks to life posed by shortages of hospital consultants and GPs in rural areas. Does he have any evidence for that? Higher mortality in Scotland is largely due to higher rates of deprivation, smoking, alcohol consumption and poor diet.’ Shortened lives are not more common in rural areas but rather in post-industrial urban … Continue reading The Tories’ favourite trade unionist and not leading doctor pops up again
Scotland’s significantly better cancer waiting times obscured by BBC reporting
BBC Health today, based on the above data, is telling us: NHS services across the whole UK have been struggling to meet cancer targets since well before Covid. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-65764755 The differences are greater. They have been careful to include NHS England’s improvement in March 2023, to 64% starting treatment within the target 64 days, from only 54.4% in December 2022, but have then compared that with the NHS Scotland figure for December 2022. The correct, fair comparison would be 72% with 54.4%, a 16.6% gap and thus 30.5% better than the 54.4% figure. Remember, that difference meant around 4 000 … Continue reading Scotland’s significantly better cancer waiting times obscured by BBC reporting
So what must Ms Baillie think about NHS Wales under Labour?
stewartb I noted in the BBC News article on bank and agency staff costs in NHS Scotland this from the Labour spokesperson Jackie Baillie MSP: “It is clear for all to see that a decade and a half of SNP failure has left our NHS facing a perfect storm of falling staffing levels and soaring agency costs. “From soaring agency bills to lengthening NHS waits, the people of Scotland are now paying the full price of SNP incompetence and useless Humza Yousaf’s disastrous track record as health secretary.” Strong condemnation of Scotland’s devolved government and a personal attack on one … Continue reading So what must Ms Baillie think about NHS Wales under Labour?
NHS England spends nearly 60% more on temporary staff
From BBC Scotland today: Spending on NHS temporary staff in Scotland reaches record high – Annual spending on NHS temporary staff in Scotland has risen to a record high of more than £560m – a rise of over a third compared with the previous year. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-65821861?at_link_id=CDD99680-046B-11EE-A8D7-3A223AE5AB7B&at_bbc_team=editorial&at_campaign_type=owned&at_link_origin=BBCScotlandNews&at_ptr_name=twitter&at_campaign=Social_Flow&at_medium=social&at_link_type=web_link&at_format=link Not mentioned in the BBC Scotland report: An investigation by the Labour Party showed that during 2021-22 60 trusts in England spent more than £800m on temporary staff and the total spend on bank staffing exceeded £1.7bn. Extrapolating these figures to all trusts in England would mean that the total spend on temporary staffing … Continue reading NHS England spends nearly 60% more on temporary staff
Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) waiting times improve for second month
From Public Health Scotland today: For the quarter ending March 2023, 74.2% of children and young people were seen within 18 weeks of referral, which is an increase from 70.2% for the previous quarter and an increase from the 73.0% for the same quarter ending March 2022. https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/child-and-adolescent-mental-health-services-camhs-waiting-times/child-and-adolescent-mental-health-services-camhs-waiting-times-quarter-ending-march-2023/ Continue reading Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) waiting times improve for second month
Stunning performance as NHS Scotland equipped for 98% of planned operations
From Public Health Scotland today: Of all cancelled planned operations during April 2023, for NHSScotland, 606 (3.1%) were cancelled by the hospital based on clinical reasons, 655 (3.3%) were cancelled by the patient, 387 (2%) were cancelled by the hospital due to capacity or non-clinical reasons, and 85 (0.4%) were cancelled due to other reasons. https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/cancelled-planned-operations/cancelled-planned-operations-month-ending-30-april-2023/ Only those operations cancelled due to, for example, staff sickness, an unexpected rush of emergency operations resulting from road crashes, work-related accidents or whatever can be seen as any kind of failure. That NHS Scotland could have done 98% on time if patients themselves … Continue reading Stunning performance as NHS Scotland equipped for 98% of planned operations
Steady fall in ‘bed-blocking’
From Public Health Scotland, today, clear evidence that delayed discharge ‘bed-blocking’, from hospitals for any reason, have been in steady decline for six months and are approaching pre-pandemic levels. Code 9 complex reasons: It is acknowledged that some discharge arrangements may be more complex due to the specific care needs of the person. Complex delays have been captured as code 9 from 2006. Bed occupancy is currently 85%: https://www.gov.scot/publications/inpatient-census-2022-part-1-mental-health-learning-disability-inpatient-bed-census-part-2-out-scotland-nhs-placements/pages/3/ Continue reading Steady fall in ‘bed-blocking’
Education in Scotland – Massive, reliable research survey gets no media attention
stewartb There is endless evidence of bias by omission being shown by the corporate media and in particular by the so-called ‘public service broadcaster’ in Scotland. As another example, how much media coverage did the following receive? The Scottish Government published this report on May 31: ‘All Learners in Scotland Matter: Our National Discussion on Education’. The summary report can be found here https://www.gov.scot/publications/learners-scotland-matter-national-discussion-summary-report/pages/2/ Given the importance of education, the report’s forward looking focus, the substantial level of public engagement across Scotland (including with young people) involved in its production and the independent academic authors surely, this merits substantial media coverage … Continue reading Education in Scotland – Massive, reliable research survey gets no media attention
BBC Scotland Disclosure team catch-up three years after we disclosed Anas Sarwar backing a care home cash cow milking the tax-payer
BBC Scotland, last night exposed a Care Home owner who seems not to be a Tory or Labour donor. It’s taken them three years to find one. Three years ago, we had this: By stewartb So the care home visited by Anas Sarwar MSP is being used to justify his claim of care homes at ‘breaking point’? If so, this company’s situation must have changed radically since 22 December 2022. This is the date Applecross Nursing Home Limited submitted its Annual Financial Statements for the year ending 31 March 2022 to Companies House. See https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/SC177933/filing-history Notably, the document includes a ’Strategic … Continue reading BBC Scotland Disclosure team catch-up three years after we disclosed Anas Sarwar backing a care home cash cow milking the tax-payer
