Tag: depression

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As NHS Scotland hits treatment targets for a year, what is the cause of a ‘child mental health emergency?’

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Professor John Robertson OBA I am, of course, not competent to evaluate the claims of the charity making them in the Herald above but I am, as are all of you, competent to ask why an apparent improvement in performance in the NHS services for them – CAMHS – now for a year, treating more than 90% of those children referred to it (7 500) in one quarter, within the 18 week target, 50% within only 3 weeks1, is now in a crisis mode when it was not in mid-2022 or in the years before? Where’s the expert, the ‘top … Continue reading As NHS Scotland hits treatment targets for a year, what is the cause of a ‘child mental health emergency?’

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NHS Scotland performance likely to be even further ahead as five examples of cover-up and distortion by NHS England managers is revealed

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stewartb making this comment below, yesterday, reminded of how previously, he, I and others have revealed the trickery used by NHS England, operating in a Tory/competitive/managerialist culture, contrary to the public service model still operating in Scotland, have found ways to massage their published statistics. When comparing statistics on long periods spent in A&E in England with those in Scotland, it is always important to check the exact nature of the metric being used. For NHS Scotland, it is always likely to be time spent since arrival up to admission, discharge or transfer. For NHS England the metric in use could be … Continue reading NHS Scotland performance likely to be even further ahead as five examples of cover-up and distortion by NHS England managers is revealed

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BBC Scotland keeps a sickening media feeding frenzy going regarding a ‘cruelty claim children’s unit’ in Glasgow but sheds no light

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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 BBC Scotland today: No inspections were carried out at cruelty claim children’s unit – No official regulator had the power to inspect Scotland’s biggest children’s psychiatric hospital during a seven-year period in which staff were accused of cruelty to patients, it has emerged. Skye House in Glasgow was visited between 2017 and 2024 by advisory body the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland. However, it did not have any enforcement powers. … Continue reading BBC Scotland keeps a sickening media feeding frenzy going regarding a ‘cruelty claim children’s unit’ in Glasgow but sheds no light

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Why don’t BBC Scotland want to tell you about Scotland’s first walk-in mental health hubs?

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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 From STV, yesterday, the above and: Scotland’s largest mental health charity has unveiled plans for a £10m network of walk-in support centres. I searched for – ‘BBC Scotland first walk-in mental health hub‘ and got the same STV report, the Daily Record, the Herald, the Glasgow Times and even the Rangers Charity Foundation covering it. The reports are not actually that SNP-friendly but BBC Scotland? Just this: What’s going wrong with our mental health? Martin Geissler and Laura Miller ask why so … Continue reading Why don’t BBC Scotland want to tell you about Scotland’s first walk-in mental health hubs?

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Official figures reveal nearly 92% of children and adolescents treated within target and half of them within 5 weeks for mental health care but the Record trusts Alex Cole-Hamilton better

johnrobertson834

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 Above, the truth the Daily Record did not publish today. Below, what they did publish On June 4th 2025 (my 74th birthday), I wrote: NHS Scotland beat a waiting times target for the second time in a row despite increased demand – how will the media spin this to get SNPBad? I’m ahead of BBC Scotland, as I write at 11.02am, but I can smell them scurrying around, phoning someone who can be trusted to say the statistics, the same stats they … Continue reading Official figures reveal nearly 92% of children and adolescents treated within target and half of them within 5 weeks for mental health care but the Record trusts Alex Cole-Hamilton better

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Tory-induced life expectancy declines worse in England due to no SNP policies or cheap ferry travel there

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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 In the Guardian yesterday: Life expectancy improvement is stalling across Europe with England experiencing the biggest slowdown. Experts are blaming this on an alarming mix of poor diet, mass inactivity … Continue reading Tory-induced life expectancy declines worse in England due to no SNP policies or cheap ferry travel there

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Almost 90% of Child and Adolescent Mental Health cases start treatment within target

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By Professor John Robertson OBA From Public Health Scotland, today: 89.1% of children and young people started treatment within 18 weeks of referral, which is an increase from 84.1% for the previous quarter and from 75.6% for the same quarter ending September 2023. The Scottish Government standard states that 90% of children and young people should start treatment within 18 weeks of referral to CAMHS. 1 Sources: Support Scots Independent, Scotland’s oldest pro-independence newspaper and host of the OBA (Oliver Brown Award) at: https://scotsindependent.scot/FWShop/shop/ The Oliver Brown Award for advancing the cause of Scotland’s self respect, previously awarded to Dr Philippa Whitford, Alex Salmond and Sean Connery: https://scotsindependent.scot/?page_id=116 About Oliver Brown, the … Continue reading Almost 90% of Child and Adolescent Mental Health cases start treatment within target

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TOTAL spend on psychiatric locums is FALLING as mental health waiting lists are slashed

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Cost of employing locum psychiatrists in the NHS is going up according to figures obtained by the BBC. Data from the country’s 14 health boards show £134 million has been spent on the temporary doctors since 2019. Psychiatrists say it’s reflective of wider recruitment challenges. BBC Reporting Scotland Wrongly is on the above scare this morning. Here are the data apparently: The total cost increased from £20.8m in 2019/20 to £34.8m last year according to figures obtained in a joint investigation by The Guardian and the BBC. This is a very strange graph indeed. The spend on emergency locum deals … Continue reading TOTAL spend on psychiatric locums is FALLING as mental health waiting lists are slashed

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Why is type 2 diabetes among under 40s far less common and increasing less steeply in Scotland?

johnrobertson834

Thanks to Dottie for alerting me to this; In the Guardian today, the above graph and: The number of people under 40 being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in the UK has risen 39% in six years, fuelled by soaring obesity levels and cheap junk food. Look at the dark bar for Scotland and imagine it 10 times thicker, for comparison with a country ten times more populous, and it’s barely half as thick. Does that suggest type 2 diabetes is only half as common in Scotland than it is in England? There are no separate data on the under … Continue reading Why is type 2 diabetes among under 40s far less common and increasing less steeply in Scotland?