NHS Scotland cancer treatment service now performing better than before pandemic and ahead of NHS England

STV giving the 6th biggest, ie teeny, party, the Lib Dems, a platform for another of their attempts to mislead. No health service anywhere, meets waiting time targets like those the NHS across the UK imposes on itself – 95% on time. Anywhere I’ve read more on targets, in Europe and in North America or in Australia and New Zealand, I find the targets seen as aspirational and failure to hit them of little concern to media or opposition politicians. Here’s what the Lib Dems and STV are missing: NHS Scotland cancer treatment facing massive increase in referrals since pandemic … Continue reading NHS Scotland cancer treatment service now performing better than before pandemic and ahead of NHS England

Scotland’s football decline attributed by researchers to loss of balance, rhythm, coordination, agility, and partner awareness in years after Scottish country dancing faded from school curriculum

It’s been suggested by leading Ayrshire academic dancer, Gavin Ochiltree, that: ‘Scotland’s football went backwards when Scottish country/highland dancing was done away with in schools. Balance and fleetness of foot were what gave us the edge when we had decent Scottish football teams.’ Is there evidence to support this? Scottish country dancing involves precise footwork, quick changes of direction, balance, rhythm, coordination, agility, and partner awareness in a group setting. These overlap with football demands (dribbling, turning, stability, spatial awareness). Highland dancing emphasizes explosive power, balance, and control. Dance training (including ballet or similar) is used by some modern athletes … Continue reading Scotland’s football decline attributed by researchers to loss of balance, rhythm, coordination, agility, and partner awareness in years after Scottish country dancing faded from school curriculum

Why is the Herald hiding the trend in Glasgow maternity deaths? Are they falling, I wonder?

The Herald today headlining another scare story about the QEUH based on the infantile and suspicious method of counting up annual numbers over several years (2019 to 2025) to get a big number and carefully concealing the trend they clearly could tell you about. I can’t get at their figures but nationally, perinatal mortality is falling from 5.4 per 1 000 deaths in 2019 to 4.6 in 2023 and with roughly 45-50 000 live births per year in Scotland, those numbers matter. https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/publications/vital-events-reference-tables-2023/?utm_source=chatgpt.com The Herald FOI report follows on from a similar attempt by BBC Scotland on 4 June this … Continue reading Why is the Herald hiding the trend in Glasgow maternity deaths? Are they falling, I wonder?

Baroness Amos is investigating 8 000 cases where babies may have died or been seriously harmed by inadequate maternity care in NHS England – today’s report into the QEUH Glasgow mentions none

at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, faced long delays for labour to be induced – the longest waits at potentially almost eight days. Notably, in the wake of last night’s dramatic Sky TV News reporting on the maternity crisis in NHS England as they await the Baroness Amos Inquiry report, BBC Reporting Scotland, this morning in their BBC Breakfast insert, headlined the above report which does contain some concerns based on the comments of ‘some’ staff and patients. The health board has already put in place remediation. ‘Some’ is never quantified. The website has this: The word ‘unsafe’ only appears … Continue reading Baroness Amos is investigating 8 000 cases where babies may have died or been seriously harmed by inadequate maternity care in NHS England – today’s report into the QEUH Glasgow mentions none

Newborn health at real risk near nuclear plants but Scottish Labour double down on new plants in Scotland

The Diablo Canyon Power Plant (DCPP) is located near Avila Beach in San Luis Obispo County, California, on approximately 1,000 acres along the Pacific coast. It is the state’s largest single power station and the only operational nuclear plant in California following the 2013 closure of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. From the Santa Barbara Independent, yesterday: Just weeks after the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) approved a 20-year license extension for the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, scrutiny surrounding the human health impacts from radiation have emerged from both academia and Diablo opponents. A recent Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health analysis found higher cancer mortality rates in U.S. counties located closer to nuclear plants, while a nonprofit-led report questioned whether decades of Diablo Canyon’s operation may be tied to worsening infant health in surrounding San Luis Obispo County. Federal regulators and health officials, however, maintain that radiation exposure from the plant … Continue reading Newborn health at real risk near nuclear plants but Scottish Labour double down on new plants in Scotland

A Labour Government agrees to compensate those infected by blood products from US prisons approved by another Labour Government in 1976, and despite warnings from their own Health Secretary. The Labour Scottish Secretary was there failing to protect us

Today, the Guardian has: Compensation payments will rise for people affected by the infected blood scandal, including an extra £35,000 each for former pupils who were experimented on at school without their knowledge, the paymaster general has announced. The government has allocated £1bn for the payments. The final report of the inquiry into what has been described as the biggest treatment disaster in NHS history was published in May 2024. The compensation scheme that followed has also been blighted by controversy. People who were infected, and their relatives, had complained about delays, qualifying criteria, the size of payments and the complex application process. Among … Continue reading A Labour Government agrees to compensate those infected by blood products from US prisons approved by another Labour Government in 1976, and despite warnings from their own Health Secretary. The Labour Scottish Secretary was there failing to protect us

Why does an English hospital ‘indefensibly’ delaying news of a deadly Meningitis outbreak causing loss of limbs, blindness and brain injury NOT lead to calls for a health secretary or anyone to resign when in Scotland keeping details of one patient’s possible non-deadly infection confidential, did?

Today with a photo of a nurse, BBC Health reports, the above and: The NHS waited two days before raising the alarm about the meningitis outbreak, the BBC has learnt. The UK Health Security Agency was first alerted to a case by the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital, in Margate, on the afternoon of Friday 13 March. That patient arrived in hospital two days earlier but there was a delay in reporting to health officials – despite there being a legal requirement for cases to be reported immediately. It meant there was a delay in tracing close contacts of … Continue reading Why does an English hospital ‘indefensibly’ delaying news of a deadly Meningitis outbreak causing loss of limbs, blindness and brain injury NOT lead to calls for a health secretary or anyone to resign when in Scotland keeping details of one patient’s possible non-deadly infection confidential, did?

BBC Scotland’s Sad Mould Alert! – Construction/renovation accounts for 50% of mould outbreaks, easily cleared up, zero deaths in UK

Gleefully headlined today by BBC Scotland, another hospital mould story. The last time they had such fun was with hospital pigeon poo: Wall panels and insulation at two new Aberdeen hospital facilities have had to be ripped out because of mould before the buildings receive their first patients. Infection control teams sounded the alarm at the Baird Family Hospital and The Anchor Centre cancer unit after construction materials were allowed to get wet, BBC Scotland News has learned. The experts warned that dormant mould spores could reactivate when the overbudget and delayed facilities finally open, posing a health hazard for … Continue reading BBC Scotland’s Sad Mould Alert! – Construction/renovation accounts for 50% of mould outbreaks, easily cleared up, zero deaths in UK

Covid Inquiry returns today – The Scottish Government took a significantly different approach to achieve the lowest death rate in the UK ‘in spite of the relatively high levels of poverty-related ill health in Scotland, which might have been expected to result in a higher Age-standardised Mortality’

BBC England and Wales are headlining this but BBC Scotland is not. Perhaps this is why. – excess deaths during the worst of the pandemic, March 2020 to February 2022, were nearly twice as high in England and 20% higher in Wales, revealed in the above archived document for excess deaths and in this on the overall death rate: The Scottish Government took a significantly different approach to extending NPIs in September and October 2020 at a time when it is suggested that there was a delay in the UK Government acting. 12. In this context, a key question that … Continue reading Covid Inquiry returns today – The Scottish Government took a significantly different approach to achieve the lowest death rate in the UK ‘in spite of the relatively high levels of poverty-related ill health in Scotland, which might have been expected to result in a higher Age-standardised Mortality’

Major reduction in hospital delayed discharge times

Please Support Talking-up Scotland at:https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-talking-up-scotlandClick on the above.Or direct bank transfer at Sort Code 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 Name – JOHN ROBERTSON From Delayed discharges in NHS Scotland monthly Figures for January 2026 published yesterday: The average (median) length of delay for people delayed at the January 2026 census was 23 days. This is less than as at the census point in December 2025 (28 days), November 2025 (27 days) and October 2025 (29 days). https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/delayed-discharges-in-nhsscotland-monthly/delayed-discharges-in-nhs-scotland-monthly-figures-for-january-2026/main-points/ How important is this kind of information, 20% reduction in median, for NHS Scotland? Short-term trend improvement — A drop from 28–29 days median … Continue reading Major reduction in hospital delayed discharge times