Tag: england

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Answering Fiona Bruce’s sneakily selective waiting list questions with ease

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Fiona Bruce tonight, interrupting Kate Forbes more than the others and campaigning on behalf of the Union with tabloid questions, asked: Why therefore is it that the average time to start chemotherapy in England is 48 days. It’s 65 in Scotland. Why is in Scotland there are 7 000 people who’ve waited more than two years for treatment. In England it’s just over 200. 1. Cancer treatment According to BBC Health in August 2023, 21% of cancer patients waited longer than the 62-day target for treatment in Scotland. In England, it was 36%, in Wales 43% and in N Ireland … Continue reading Answering Fiona Bruce’s sneakily selective waiting list questions with ease

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

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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?

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LATEST SHOCK: Scotland’s waiting list for heart treatment is barely half that per head of NHS England!

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By Professor John Robertson Many thanks to Dottie’s Phone for alerting me to this. The Guardian today has this shocking news: The British Heart Foundation (BHF) warns that heart care waiting lists are now at a record high, reaching 414,596 at the end of March 2024 in England, almost double what it was in 2020. In February 2024, the British Heart Foundation felt this was shocking for Scotland: Between March 2019 and September 2023, the number of people waiting for an outpatient appointment rose from 8,562 to 23,027. In the last year alone, the waiting list has grown by more than … Continue reading LATEST SHOCK: Scotland’s waiting list for heart treatment is barely half that per head of NHS England!

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‘UK’ Birth trauma report has evidence of a crisis only in England

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BY stewartb The report from the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) in the UK Parliament on birth trauma published today does of course address a really important topic. It merits and has received a lot of attention from the mainstream media: BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning gave it a lot of attention. My interest – as in the main blog post – is in the nature of the APPG’s process – its research scope, its evidence base and the nature of its recommendations. After listening to media reports and skimming through the final report, the following observation seem worth … Continue reading ‘UK’ Birth trauma report has evidence of a crisis only in England

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Scotland to power millions of homes in England, for no return, for the moment

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From the Yorkshire Post in February 2024: Landowners in East Yorkshire have complained of feeling “pressurised” over an undersea electricity “superhighway” from Scotland to England which will cross their land. The £2.1bn link between Peterhead in north east Scotland and Drax in north Yorkshire, is expected to provide enough “green” electricity from Scottish offshore wind farms to power 2m homes in England. England. https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/people/the-yorkshire-beach-where-ps21bn-cable-carrying-electricity-from-scottish-windfarms-will-come-onshore-4039515?s=03 Bloody Scots, comin’ down ere, powering our homes and blighting our landscapes with their pylons? 2 million homes eh? Based on average electricity bills, around £2 billion in revenue, taxed by the UK Treasury and kept there for … Continue reading Scotland to power millions of homes in England, for no return, for the moment

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Pupils feel far safer in Scottish schools than elsewhere in the UK but our media report England’s worries as ours

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By Professor John Robertson In the Guardian today: Only two in five children in England say they always feel safe at school, according to a government survey, and teachers from across Britain have told the Guardian they have seen pupils’ behaviour deteriorate over the last two years. https://www.theguardian.com/education/2024/apr/26/two-in-five-pupils-in-england-always-feel-safe-in-school-survey-behaviour So first, see that ‘in England?’ Today, the Herald, the Glasgow Times and even the National completely drop it from their headlines so as to clearly imply Scotland too is part of this crisis. The facts on Scotland below but briefly, near the bottom of the report, the Guardian has: A secondary school teacher … Continue reading Pupils feel far safer in Scottish schools than elsewhere in the UK but our media report England’s worries as ours

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Encouraging research reveals Scotland not ‘worst in world’ for teen drinking and smoking but England might be

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By Professor John Robertson In the Guardian today, there’s some pretty bad news in the above graph regarding England’s 15 year-old girls, with a sharp increase from 2018 in the percentage having smoked. There’s some but far less so for Scotland, as our 15 year-old boys and girls, reveal a slight fall to stay significantly below the average in this WHO survey of 280 000 children in 48 countries . For alcohol consumption by 13 year-old boys, the picture in Scotland is very positive with a significant fall from 2018 in the percentage having drunk alcohol. For girls there is … Continue reading Encouraging research reveals Scotland not ‘worst in world’ for teen drinking and smoking but England might be

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Delayed ferry deserves politicising but not in Cornwall, only in Scotland

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Yesterday, a further two-month delay for the MV Glen Sannox was a matter for comment by the Conservative opposition on BBC Scotland’s website. We got all of this: Scottish Conservative transport spokesman Graham Simpson MSP said the latest delay was “yet another huge blow to Scotland’s betrayed island communities”. He added: “It means that – after testing – another whole summer season will have gone by without desperately-needed new CalMac vessels being in operation, thanks to the SNP’s monumental incompetence. “That’s another peak holiday season for hotels, restaurants and businesses completely at the mercy of a decrepit fleet that simply … Continue reading Delayed ferry deserves politicising but not in Cornwall, only in Scotland

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You’re almost TWICE as likely to be on a waiting list for cardiac care in England than you are in Scotland

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By Professor John Robertson From the Guardian today, we see that 408 548 are waiting for cardiac care in England. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/apr/11/number-waiting-for-nhs-care-for-serious-heart-problems-in-england-rises-fivefold You know the drill. With one-tenth of the population, all things being as equally bad as our media would hope, Scotland might expect to have around 40 000 on the waiting list for cardiac care but according to the Herald on 6 February 2024, it’s 23 000, just over half. https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/24091977.cardiology-waiting-lists-at-highest-level-record Is it just this or is there a wider picture of NHS Scotland waiting lists being shorter after 16 years of the SNP in Government? Search: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/?s=wait to … Continue reading You’re almost TWICE as likely to be on a waiting list for cardiac care in England than you are in Scotland

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After more than 50 days of strikes and more than a million appointments cancelled NHS England’s waiting list swells to proportionally TWICE that in Scotland

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By Professor John Robertson More than 50 days of NHS strikes in England, and counting, the Guardian today reports: Almost 10 million people across England could be waiting for an NHS appointment or treatment, 2 million more than previously estimated, according to a survey by the Office for National Statistics. The ONS survey of about 90,000 adults found that 21% of patients were waiting for a hospital appointment or to start receiving treatment on the NHS. When extrapolated, this equates to 9.7 million people. In January, the waiting list stood at 7.6 million, according to official NHS statistics. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/apr/03/almost-10-million-people-in-england-could-be-on-nhs-waiting-list The Guardian report does … Continue reading After more than 50 days of strikes and more than a million appointments cancelled NHS England’s waiting list swells to proportionally TWICE that in Scotland