Tag: health

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Nearly six years ago 5 research studies found scale of Covid deaths was largely due to private care home owners over-reliant on travelling agency staff, denying sick pay to staff and failing to test them in-house

johnrobertson834

Again, I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve countered that myth about hospital discharges causing care home outbreaks but, one more time quickly: There is no evidence at all that any of the discharges of hospital cases into care homes caused any of the outbreaks in those homes. There are repeated research reports showing that agency staff working in more than one of the, especially, larger corporate-owned homes did, unwittingly, cause the outbreaks. Here’s the evidence again: The charitable MHA with a presence in Scotland did research into its own homes and discovered this: Large numbers of staff could … Continue reading Nearly six years ago 5 research studies found scale of Covid deaths was largely due to private care home owners over-reliant on travelling agency staff, denying sick pay to staff and failing to test them in-house

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Not a word on hospital discharges in first of deadly care home inspections in 2020 as care home owners are revealed to be guilty for Covid deaths

johnrobertson834

In December 2020, as deaths began to rise again in care homes and opposition parties returned to the smell of blood they detected from their ‘common sense’ unqualified notion that hospital discharges must be responsible, the Care Inspectorate applied to cancel the registration of Thornlea Nursing Home in Loanhead Midlothian. There was no mention of hospital discharges as a suspected cause of infections and deaths, by the Care Inspectorate in December 2020 and there is none in the final report released yesterday but there is, ten times, mention of failures of infection control by the staff, often untrained and under-staffed, … Continue reading Not a word on hospital discharges in first of deadly care home inspections in 2020 as care home owners are revealed to be guilty for Covid deaths

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Most of these clinics compete with each other on alternative therapies and cosmetic practices not part of current NHS core remits

johnrobertson834

In the Herald today, the above, and: A short flight of stone steps leads to the entrance of Health3 on St Vincent Street in Glasgow. The black-painted doorway, framed by chunky classical columns, looks more like the threshold of a private members’ club than a medical clinic. Inside, the owners have taken great care to make the practice look like anything but a doctor’s office. The dark walls and near-black woodwork, high ceilings topped with ornate cornicing, arches and a decorative cast-iron staircase are dripping in contemporary luxury. A waiting room, illuminated with pools of amber light, is decorated with … Continue reading Most of these clinics compete with each other on alternative therapies and cosmetic practices not part of current NHS core remits

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English Media say maternity care there is in a doom loop (no ”) but no matter how ‘our’ media try Scotland is not having England’s maternity crisis – It’s just a review

johnrobertson834

In the Guardian today, the above with notably no speech marks around ‘doom loop’, and: The NHS Alliance has announced that up to 20 of the country’s 155 smaller, consultant-led maternity units, mostly in rural or coastal areas, might have to close, since their safety is in question. The problem – which will seem very pressing and obvious to anyone about to give birth, yet quite abstract and manageable to anyone who isn’t – is that those areas aren’t teeming with alternatives. There are women in Devon whose maternity hospital has been temporarily closed, whose next nearest hospital is 53 … Continue reading English Media say maternity care there is in a doom loop (no ”) but no matter how ‘our’ media try Scotland is not having England’s maternity crisis – It’s just a review

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Preparing for today’s lies about Covid deaths in care homes in Scotland 3 – Why Scotland’s higher PERCENTAGE of care home deaths was entirely expected because we had fewer deaths OVERALL

johnrobertson834

All the necessary data to explain the above is deep in the bowels of the 14 000 or so Talking-up Scotland archives. I could have dug it all up and posted an answer later today but then I thought, what do I keep Grok AI (I imagine a Raven-like familiar) for? I asked him: Compare the percentage of Covid deaths which were in care homes in England and Scotland from March 2020 to February 2022? He did and then I asked: Is this an entirely expected and not negative outcome given that England had overall a much….. before hitting <RETURN> … Continue reading Preparing for today’s lies about Covid deaths in care homes in Scotland 3 – Why Scotland’s higher PERCENTAGE of care home deaths was entirely expected because we had fewer deaths OVERALL

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Preparing for today’s lies about Covid deaths in care homes in Scotland 2 – In the murderous first phase of the pandemic, they were 21% lower than in England & Wales

johnrobertson834

In the Guardian 19th July 2020, six months after Boris Johnson’s incompetence and callousness allowed the virus free access t the UK and just over three months since the SNP Government got devolved authority for the pandemic tactics, here is what happened to care home residents. In a piece broadly sympathetic to the First Minister and Scotland’s Covid strategy, the Guardian writers seemed to feel the need for ‘balance’ and to use anything they can find even if it’s wrong. Truth, fairness and accuracy are what readers need. You wouldn’t expect to have balance on a piece about the health … Continue reading Preparing for today’s lies about Covid deaths in care homes in Scotland 2 – In the murderous first phase of the pandemic, they were 21% lower than in England & Wales

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Why does the Royal College of Emergency Medicine avoid comparisons with Scotland when they reveal England to be the ‘Capital of Deadly Long Waits?’

johnrobertson834

In the Herald today: More than 30,000 NHS waits are still longer than a year despite a Scottish Government pledge to eradicate them by March. Last year, First Minister John Swinney set a target of March 2026 for no patient to wait longer than a year for their treatment. Important I’m sure but: Why A&E should take priority if resources force a choice Mortality evidence is clearer and more immediate for A&E delays. Excess deaths in the low tens of thousands annually are estimated from long emergency waits; equivalent quantified mortality impact is not shown for the current scale of … Continue reading Why does the Royal College of Emergency Medicine avoid comparisons with Scotland when they reveal England to be the ‘Capital of Deadly Long Waits?’

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Scottish Government scheme slashes drug-related hospital stays to reduce load and stem drug deaths

johnrobertson834

From National Mission on Drugs: annual report 2025 to 2026, published today and to zero media attention: On 20 January 2021, the former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon made a statement to Parliament which set out a National Mission to reduce drug deaths and improve lives through a range of improvements to treatment, recovery and other support services. This fifth and final National Mission annual report sets out the progress made from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026 against the National Mission Plan. Annual analytical reports monitoring the progress of the National Mission are published separately. https://www.gov.scot/publications/national-mission-drugs-annual-report-2025-2026/pages/2/ This is an … Continue reading Scottish Government scheme slashes drug-related hospital stays to reduce load and stem drug deaths

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NHS Scotland treating 20% more in 12 weeks than NHS England as think-tank predicts a crisis there by the next election

johnrobertson834

Typically dishonest, gutter-level journalism from the Herald today. Moving the formal maximum target from an unmet 12 weeks to a 26-week aim by 2031 is a relaxation of ambition relative to the old legal standard, but it does not mean the plan is to increase waits to twice what people experience today. For a large number of current long-waiters it would still represent an improvement if achieved. Like many health service targets, our aging, less active yet more expectant population, living in a world of de-regulated food production and made addicts to hyper-processed non-food by global corporations, cannot be met. … Continue reading NHS Scotland treating 20% more in 12 weeks than NHS England as think-tank predicts a crisis there by the next election

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Fighting obesity with drugs – BBC Scotland’s one-sided, unbalanced reporting fails to tell you of a more sustainable, equitable, and cost-effective population-level approach and the really ‘leading’ Scottish doctor who knows all about it

johnrobertson834

effective since 2023. BBC Scotland‘s insert in BBC Breakfast this morning tell us that the weight loss drug ‘jabs’ (sic) Wegovy and Mounjaro are only being prescribed free, on the NHS, for ‘fewer than 800′ Scots, that at least 300 000 are accessing them privately, that this discriminates against the obese and that they have been approved as ‘safe and cost effective.‘ In some ways strangely, given their close ties, the BBC Scotland writers have forgotten this from the Herald in May 2025: A Scottish GP has warned about society’s potential reliance on weight loss drugs as he calls for … Continue reading Fighting obesity with drugs – BBC Scotland’s one-sided, unbalanced reporting fails to tell you of a more sustainable, equitable, and cost-effective population-level approach and the really ‘leading’ Scottish doctor who knows all about it