BBC UK at 1 today, reporting worsening waits on trolleys in A&E, conceals England’s crisis we hear the claim that ‘Hospitals in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have all been facing similar pressures.’ Well, maybe but very different outcomes. In January 2022, only 62.3% were seen in 4 hours across England’s Type 1 A&E departments. In Scotland, the figure for the same period was 73.46%, a crude superiority of 11.16% or 17.9% better. Remember, In Scotland that means around 4 000 more seen on time and in England around 80 000 waiting longer. https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ae-waiting-times-and-activity/ae-attendances-and-emergency-admissions-2021-22/ https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/nhs-performs-weekly-update-of-emergency-department-activity-and-waiting-time-statistics/nhs-performs-weekly-update-of-emergency-department-activity-and-waiting-time-statistics-week-ending-30-january-2022/ Continue reading 18% better yet NHS Scotland is facing ‘facing similar pressures?’

By stewartb So this is the big BBC Scotland reveal today: ‘.. no Scottish health board ‘routinely’ screens for postnatal depression’ for men! I don’t doubt, and don’t wish to deny or downplay, the difficulties some individuals may have with this form of depression. My problem is with BBC Scotland’s context- and perspective-free, daily negativity about Scotland’s health services. Given its form of reporting, I become better informed NOT from reading/listening/viewing BBC output but from being activated by it to explore other sources. But I might have a much bigger story for BBC Scotland based on the following link to … Continue reading Routine screening for postnatal depression is not recommended anyway?

There are 7 references to Scotland, in the CST report on anti-semitism, published today but none in the Guardian coverage of ‘the UK.’ There has been a staggering 34% increase in the UK data and in a Scotland a 3.3% increase from 30 to 31, since last year. Scotland’s percentage, overall, is 1.37% around only a tenth of what it might be if the populations were the same. Back in 2019, the Herald’s Paul Hutcheon tried to inflate things a bit for us: Continue reading As it soars in England, anti-Semitism remains extremely rare in Scotland

Today after BBC Scotland’s own FoI request reveals that no Scottish health board ‘routinely’ screens for postnatal depression in men and a comment from a Fathers Network Scotland rep, we hear from the Fathers Network Scotland. Their head of marketing is a former BBC Scotland employee. Both directors have strong connections with BBC Scotland. Their Facebook page has just over 2 000 followers. Size doesn’t matter when you know folk at Pacific Quay. the condition, we’re told affects around 5 000 men or between 8 and 10% of all new fathers in Scotland every year and can lead even to … Continue reading The drip of health anxieties brought to you daily

Once more the ONS data for week-ending 5th February 2022 has Scotland at the lowest infection level, with Wales, of 1 in 25. The level in England was 1 in 19 and, in Northern Ireland, was 1 in 13. Hospitalisation fell again to 934 with only 21 in ICU, the lowest levels since December 31st 2021. https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/bulletins/coronaviruscovid19infectionsurveypilot/9february2022 Continue reading Cautious approach to face coverings keeps Scotland at lowest infection level

Kirsty Hughes, an Associate Professor specialising in Human Rights Law, joint General Editor of the European Human Rights Law Review and Deputy Director of the Centre for Public Law, University of Cambridge does not, as far as I can see use the term ‘hurdles.’ Indeed, disappointingly for the headline writer perhaps, her piece is peppered with very encouraging phrases such as: It’s not obvious why an independent Scotland would look more problematic, as an EU candidate than say Greece after its dictatorship, the divided island of Cyprus or Latvia and Lithuania after decades in the Soviet bloc. Quite. And independent Scotland, … Continue reading Headline bears no relation to text as ‘Scotland looks well-placed to re-join EU’

BBC Scotland has the nerve now to criticise NHS Tayside for not protecting its oncology staff from the brutal lies its health correspondent, Lisa Summers, fabricated to undermine the confidence and status of those same staff. As reported here, the breast cancer treatment team, after experimenting with reduced chemotherapy doses to ease appalling side-effects, was shown to have, regardless, a below average mortality rate, was supported by a St Andrews University professor’s evidence and then completely cleared of any suggestion that the lower doses led to additional deaths in an official report. The above BBC Scotland report acknowledges some of … Continue reading Lisa Summers: Cold-blooded and hypocritical

In Scotland, the BBC allege a waiting times crisis based only on allegations by opposition politicians and ‘GPs’ and blame it on a ‘failure to plan’ by the SNP Government. In England a waiting times crisis is happily admitted by the Health Secretary, Savid Javid, and he even warns it will get worse. In the BBC report and in the Telegraph, no suggestion of government failure is offered until, hidden at the very end of the BBC Health report (not headlined), the Shadow Health Secretary accuses the UK Government of ‘mismanagement.’ BBC 1 News at 6 outlines the plans just … Continue reading Waiting lists can only be blamed on SNP

As the Scottish Cons campaign to get them off, the data are clear. Sturgeon has protected thousands of Scots school-children from infection and perhaps long-Covid. Comparisons are always difficult but according to the ONS, for the week-ending 29 January, 13.1% of 6-12 year-olds and 7.6% of 13-17 year-olds in England, tested positive. According to Public Health Scotland data for week-ending 8 February, 5.3% of 0-14 year-olds and 6.44% of 15-19 year-olds tested positive. So, different grouping but, overall, significantly lower infection rates in Scottish schools. The face masks work. Sources: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/articles/coronaviruscovid19/latestinsights Scotland Coronavirus Tracker Continue reading Sturgeon’s prudent face mask rules more successful in protecting Scots schoolchildren

Reform Scotland, like most right-wing, unionist, so-called think tanks is keen to project itself as somehow independent or non-partisan. Any social science student will tell you there’s no such thing but Reform Scotland is an easier target than that. It’s director is Chris Deerin, a New Statesman writer, Blairite and regular critic of anything the SNP does. Just Google his name and SNP and you’ll see just how non-partisan he isn’t. It’s research director is Alison Payne. That name ring a bell? It should. In recent years, popping up as just a ‘mum’, unattributed, on Reporting Scotland, GMS and Kay … Continue reading No, a very partisan think tank, I think