There is no hospital in Scotland you need fear attending but in England, 31 you might be wary of and 5 you really need to stay away from

Professor John Robertson OBA Once again Public Health Scotland publish figures showing that all of Scotland’s hospitals are operating with the same high safety levels as each other. In the above chart we can see that all bar one, from the smaller hospitals on the left, to the giant Queen Elisabeth University Hospital on the right, no hospitals had a significantly higher standardised mortality ratio than the national average. From Hospital Standardised Mortality Ratios July 2024 to June 2025, published yesterday, the above graph and: For the period July 2024 to June 2025: HSMR is a risk-adjusted hospital mortality measure … Continue reading There is no hospital in Scotland you need fear attending but in England, 31 you might be wary of and 5 you really need to stay away from

Scottish Government significantly widened access to free flu vaccine to give more than twice as many, per capita, protection from worrying new mutation

Professor John Robertson OBA From BBC Health today and being broadcast widely and frequently, the above and: Flu strikes every winter, but this year something seems to be different. A seasonal flu virus suddenly mutated in the summer. It appears to evade some of our immunity, has kick-started a flu season more than a month early, and is a type of flu that history suggests is more severe. The NHS has now issued a “flu jab SOS” as fears grow that this will add up to a brutal winter. There is a lot of nuance and uncertainty, but leading flu … Continue reading Scottish Government significantly widened access to free flu vaccine to give more than twice as many, per capita, protection from worrying new mutation

No major flu deaths surge expected in Scotland after 80% vaccine uptake and in cleaner hospitals

Professor John Robertson OBA The above is from the Over 5 million under 65s with a long-term health condition could miss out flu vaccine reported in the Mirror yesterday. From: Less than a third (28.9%) of people with one or more long-term health conditions (LTHCs) have had a flu vaccine. 9 million aged under 65’s in clinical risk groups are eligible but just 40% vaccinated last year (2024 to 25) – leaving over 5 million missing out and unprotected. Uptake of the flu vaccine in older adults, aged 65 and over, is higher – 61.5% this year to date; and … Continue reading No major flu deaths surge expected in Scotland after 80% vaccine uptake and in cleaner hospitals

How I rebutted Reform UK’s vaccine denier doctor over and over three years ago

Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details or by direct bank transfer method – Sort code 08-91-04, Account 12266421 Professor John Robertson OBA In the Guardian yesterday: A controversial doctor given top billing at the Reform party conference has used his main-stage speech to air a claim the Covid vaccine caused cancer in the royal family. The speech by Aseem Malhotra, a British cardiologist who was appointed as a senior adviser to the US health secretary and vaccine sceptic Robert F Kennedy, drew sharp intakes of breath in the Birmingham auditorium where he … Continue reading How I rebutted Reform UK’s vaccine denier doctor over and over three years ago

Watch out for Jackie Baillie telling us we need Martha’s Rule too but failing to tell you that hospital acquired infections under the SNP are between a fifth and a half of the level in 2006, under Labour, an eighth of the level in England and a third of the level in Europe?

Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details or by direct bank transfer method – Sort code 08-91-04, Account 12266421 Professor John Robertson OBA Being broadcast widely by BBC UK and in BBC Health, the above and: Martha’s rule, a way for families to seek an urgent second opinion if they are concerned about the care their loved ones receive, will be rolled out across all English hospitals delivering acute or short-term treatment. The telephone helpline, the result of a campaign by the parents of 13-year-old Martha Mills who died after serious failings in … Continue reading Watch out for Jackie Baillie telling us we need Martha’s Rule too but failing to tell you that hospital acquired infections under the SNP are between a fifth and a half of the level in 2006, under Labour, an eighth of the level in England and a third of the level in Europe?

As one tragic Sepsis death is milked by the media why don’t they tell you hospital acquired infections under the SNP are between a fifth and a half of the level in 2006, under Labour, an eighth of the level in England and a third of the level in Europe?

Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details Professor John Robertson OBA Headlining on BBC Scotland today, the above tragic case and: Prosecutors have opened an investigation into the death of a young woman seven years after she became seriously ill with a hospital-acquired infection in Glasgow. Molly Cuddihy, 23, died in the high dependency unit of the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) in the city on Tuesday. In 2018 Molly developed septic shock while receiving cancer treatment at the same hospital campus, which is now at the centre of a public inquiry into … Continue reading As one tragic Sepsis death is milked by the media why don’t they tell you hospital acquired infections under the SNP are between a fifth and a half of the level in 2006, under Labour, an eighth of the level in England and a third of the level in Europe?

BBC Scotland’s Andrew Picken and Lisa Summers return to condemn one of the safest hospitals in Scotland with cheap, ill-informed and jaundiced reporting on infections and the child deaths NOT caused by them

Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details Professor John Robertson OBA BBC Scotland return today with an extended piece on the re-convened public inquiry into ‘safety and wellbeing issues‘ at two Scottish hospitals, the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow and Royal Hospital for Children in Edinburgh. I’ll deal only with the former here. The BBC text is presented as quotes with my rebuttals below them in plain text: In the coming weeks it will examine contentious new evidence from Glasgow’s health board about the risk of infection from the water and ventilation … Continue reading BBC Scotland’s Andrew Picken and Lisa Summers return to condemn one of the safest hospitals in Scotland with cheap, ill-informed and jaundiced reporting on infections and the child deaths NOT caused by them

Will Jackie Baillie now retract her claim that hospital discharges caused unlawful care home Covid deaths?

Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details or, if you prefer, a bank transfer, at sort code 089300 account 1421 7339 Professor John Robertson OBA In May 2022, the above claims were being made repeatedly by Scottish Labour. Here is a typical example: Jackie Baillie has demanded Nicola Sturgeon faces up to the “unlawful, unreasonable and irrational” decisions her Government made by discharging patients from hospital to care homes at the height of the pandemic which cost lives. Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar raised the issue at First Minister’s Questions this … Continue reading Will Jackie Baillie now retract her claim that hospital discharges caused unlawful care home Covid deaths?

Research – SNP Government’s early action and £4m spent on RSV vaccine for over 75s achieves 63% more coverage than NHS England, slashes hospitalisation rates and will have saved many lives

The Talking-up Scotland fund raiser primarily, finishing in 14 days, to enable the recruitment of some research assistance, in order to take pressure off me [74 in June and tiring] and hopefully to further improve the blog, has made a good start. To contribute, only if you can (!) go to: Talking-up Scotland – a Politics crowdfunding project in Ayr by Professor John Robertson By Professor John Robertson OBA, former Faculty Research Ethics Chair, UWS BBC Scotland have reported RSV vaccine cuts hospital stays for older people but you’d never know from their broadcasts or the fuller website report, unless you read 13 … Continue reading Research – SNP Government’s early action and £4m spent on RSV vaccine for over 75s achieves 63% more coverage than NHS England, slashes hospitalisation rates and will have saved many lives

Covid care home deaths – the thousands saved and lost in Scotland and in England

On 22 January 2021, BBC UK had a special report on the anxiety in English and Welsh care homes that they were being left behind in the vaccine rollout. Days earlier, in response to a question by Philippa Whitford, Matt Hancock confirmed that only 24% of care home residents in England had been vaccinated. On the same day, the First Minister of Scotland indicated that 80% of care home residents and staff had now been vaccinated. Some councils, Inverclyde and North Ayrshire claimed 100%. Whitford then explained: The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation was very clear that those who … Continue reading Covid care home deaths – the thousands saved and lost in Scotland and in England