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Latest hospital mortality figures reveal that Scotland does have a one-tier health service unlike the one in that other place

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The Talking-up Scotland fund raiser primarily 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 From Hospital Standardised Mortality Ratios October 2023 to September 2024 published today: The above funnel plot shows that all of Scotland’s hospitals had the level of mortality previously predicted in earlier data … Continue reading Latest hospital mortality figures reveal that Scotland does have a one-tier health service unlike the one in that other place

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Mental health services – 18% improvement in one year as almost 90% of children and adolescents now treated within target

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Professor John Robertson OBA BBC Scotland today is headlining their own Disclosure team’s interviews with teenagers from one Glasgow unit. It sounds tragic. While taking nothing away from the unacceptability of the treatment reported, BBC Scotland also has a responsibility beyond that, to inform the public of the wider context so that one negative report does not, unfairly, come to represent reality for their audience. The latest figures, from Public Health Scotland, tell another important and different story: For the quarter ending September 2024: 89.1% of children and young people started treatment within 18 weeks of referral, which is an … Continue reading Mental health services – 18% improvement in one year as almost 90% of children and adolescents now treated within target

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NHS Scotland’s shorter cancer treatment waiting lists save hundreds of lives

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The Talking-up Scotland fund raiser primarily 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 Today, in the Guardian: More than half a million people in England have had to wait longer than two months for essential cancer treatment, analysis of latest NHS figures has shown. It has led experts to suggest thousands more … Continue reading NHS Scotland’s shorter cancer treatment waiting lists save hundreds of lives

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A ‘front door’ A&E innovation in the NHS to benefit the frail gains support across the UK:  Unionist politicians in Scotland call it ‘granny bouncers’!

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By stewartb Scotland’s FM gave a speech (January 27) on actions to relieve pressures on NHS Scotland to the benefit of patients. Among the measures proposed, he referenced this: ‘By this summer, we will have specialised staff in frailty teams, at the front door of every A&E department in Scotland. This will mean that frail patients, often older patients with complex needs, will bypass our busy A&Es, in order to receive the specialist care and support they need, whether in hospital or back at home. It will mean better care for these most vulnerable patients while reducing the pressure on … Continue reading A ‘front door’ A&E innovation in the NHS to benefit the frail gains support across the UK:  Unionist politicians in Scotland call it ‘granny bouncers’!

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Suspected drug deaths fall dramatically by 30% in last 4 years as world-first SNP scheme bites

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By Professor John Robertson OBA: From Rapid Action Drug Alerts and Response (RADAR) quarterly ​reports with the most recent released today: That gives a total of 1 001, down from 1 200 in 2023 and a peak of 1 411 in 2020. Suspected drug deaths based on police assessment at the scene of death have now fallen 29% in 4 years and 17% in the last year. Possible explanation? After a pilot phase ending in 2018, the Scottish Government began to embed Naloxone opioid overdose reversal kits across NHS Scotland. Shortly after, the kits which can be administered by anyone, were adopted … Continue reading Suspected drug deaths fall dramatically by 30% in last 4 years as world-first SNP scheme bites

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Jewellery entrepreneur lies about NHS Scotland to make case for increased private care though Oxford University has proved it will lead to worse patient care

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By Professor John Robertson, OBA Thanks again to AR for alerting me to this. Gillian Bowditch is a columnist for The Sunday Times. She is founder of the personalised jewellery company Lily Blanche (lilyblanche.com)  and chair of the British Association of Women Entrepreneurs (Scotland).  Today in the Times, she has this: Toxic Work Culture in the NHS is a matter of life and death Her argument is that toxic work environments in NHS Scotland are leading to worse care and thus unnecessary deaths, and that competition in healthcare will push standards up and, presumably, remove these. That she imagines the private … Continue reading Jewellery entrepreneur lies about NHS Scotland to make case for increased private care though Oxford University has proved it will lead to worse patient care

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After 10 years local MP fails to encourage improvement in his local A&E – Will Labour Scotland’s health spokesperson, Jackie Baillie offer advice based on NHS Scotland?

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Wes Streeting has been the local MP [Ilford North] in which the above hospital sits, for nearly 10 years and has been Secretary of State for Health since July 2024. On Friday January 24 2025, The Times, had the above shocking images, and: It is 4pm on a Tuesday and the tea lady is slowly wheeling her metal trolley up the crowded corridors of the A&E unit at Queen’s Hospital in Romford. She stops one by one at the makeshift bedsides of the patients crammed in beside one another, offering tea, coffee and biscuits while they wait — and wait … Continue reading After 10 years local MP fails to encourage improvement in his local A&E – Will Labour Scotland’s health spokesperson, Jackie Baillie offer advice based on NHS Scotland?

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FIVE TIMES as many wait more than 12 hours in two English A&E departments than in Glasgow as 57% of NHS England hospitals fail to declare critical incidents despite ‘out-of-control waiting times

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By Professor John Robertson, OBA Thanks to AR for alerting me to this: In the Independent today: Dozens of hospitals are failing to declare critical incidents despite having out-of-control waiting times at A&E. New figures handed to The Independent have revealed that more than half of NHS trusts have longer A&E waiting times than those which have already been forced to take emergency measures to deal with overwhelming demand. More than a dozen hospitals announced incidents at the start of January, but the health secretary later revealed the true figure was 24. At Blackpool Teaching Hospitals and Countess of Chester Hospital Trusts, 27.5 per cent … Continue reading FIVE TIMES as many wait more than 12 hours in two English A&E departments than in Glasgow as 57% of NHS England hospitals fail to declare critical incidents despite ‘out-of-control waiting times

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Radioactive tritium emissions which ‘slam into’ your DNA, DOUBLE around Clyde nuclear sub base

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By Professor John Robertson, OBA Yesterday, I saw the above report and read further on the topic in The Engineer, that: Fusion power plants will rely on hydrogen isotopes deuterium (which can be extracted from seawater), and tritium (which is rare on Earth) to produce energy. To address this scarcity, tritium must be produced (or ‘bred’) in a lithium-containing blanket that surrounds the fusion reaction. The LIBRTI programme aims to demonstrate controlled tritium breeding, which will be a critical step for future fusion power plants. Tritium jumped up into my mind again as it had done three weeks ago as I … Continue reading Radioactive tritium emissions which ‘slam into’ your DNA, DOUBLE around Clyde nuclear sub base

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Three England-only research reports do not prove that eating disorder treatment in Scotland is underfunded especially when NHS Scotland can treat 84 cases from England

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By Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to https://bsky.app/profile/keepinfairlieweird.bsky.social for alerting me to this. From BBC Health today: Lives are being lost and families torn apart because of “woefully inadequate care” for people with eating disorders, according to a group of MPs. The “alarming” rise in disorders such as anorexia and bulimia, over the past decade, has now become an “emergency”, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Eating Disorders says in a report. The report refers to figures showing a growing number of people affected: The report says services are “grossly” underfunded, there are barriers to accessing treatment and wide variations in care quality … Continue reading Three England-only research reports do not prove that eating disorder treatment in Scotland is underfunded especially when NHS Scotland can treat 84 cases from England