Despite steady growth in planned operations, NHS Scotland still ready to do stunning 98% on time

By Professor John Robertson From Public Health Scotland today: The number of planned operations has been steadily increasing since pandemic restrictions first affected provision of services in March 2020. In the 12 months to March 2024, there was a 7.6% increase in the number of planned operations compared to the previous 12 months.  Of all planned operations during March 2024 in NHS Scotland, 738 (3.1%) were cancelled by the hospital based on clinical reasons, 642 (2.7%) were cancelled by the patient, 480 (2%) were cancelled by the hospital due to capacity or non-clinical reasons, and 90 (0.4%) were cancelled due … Continue reading Despite steady growth in planned operations, NHS Scotland still ready to do stunning 98% on time

Cannabis use by Scotland’s teens – Lisa Summer’s deliberate attempt at obfuscation or just clumsy?

By stewartb The availability of the cannabis use statistic for Scotland may be very ‘fortuitous’ for the headline writer of the BBC News website’s article on Scotland. The same website’s piece on its main UK page which focuses on England tells us: ‘NO DATA ON CANNABIS WAS PROVIDED FOR ENGLAND.’ (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-68884005) The article on England now only has prominence on the BBC News website’s ‘health’ page. At the bottom of the article, the BBC provides links to ‘related topics’ which include ‘alcohol’ and ‘cannabis’. The BBC News website’s article on the same WHO data remains prominent on the main Scotland page (at … Continue reading Cannabis use by Scotland’s teens – Lisa Summer’s deliberate attempt at obfuscation or just clumsy?

Only in Scotland would a service performing so well relative to its peers be the target of headline negativity

By stewartb ‘STV is becoming as anti-Scottish as BBC Scotland’ – as evidenced by its practice of context and perspective-free reporting. It would be so easy and quick for STV better to inform its audience – and voters – but that would require different journalistic/editorial objectives. To further fill the void in STV’s reporting, what follows is from the Office of Road and Rail (7 March 2023) ‘Passenger rail performance, 1 October to 31 December 2023’. (https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/media/jkfh21zr/performance-stats-release-oct-dec-2023.pdf ) Scotrail – 11.8 percentage point increase on same period in 2022. Just seven out of 24 operators had a larger increase. Scotrail – … Continue reading Only in Scotland would a service performing so well relative to its peers be the target of headline negativity