Tag: health

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How Orkney islanders fought off a lung cancer risk, nearly 100 times the normal rate

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Professor John Robertson OBA Many thanks to Frances McKie for alerting me to this. In 1975, not much reported at the time, as far as I can remember, the residents of the Orkney Islands faced and fought off a dark threat. From Beyond Nuclear International in April 2021: The Orkneys were being surveyed for a potentially valuable deposit of uranium ore. The South Scottish Electricity Board had already persuaded local farmers, unaware of the health risks, to allow bore hole drilling on their land. By 1977, the entire local population on Orkney opposed uranium exploitation there. Among those opponents was … Continue reading How Orkney islanders fought off a lung cancer risk, nearly 100 times the normal rate

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Suspected drug deaths fall again for 3rd quarter in a row to lowest since 2017 and plummet for younger abusers

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Professor John Robertson OBA From Suspected drug deaths in Scotland: October to December 2024, published today: During 2024 there were 1,065 suspected drug deaths, 11% (132) fewer than in 2023. This is one of the lowest numbers of suspected drug deaths recorded in a single calendar quarter since the start of the time series in 2017. https://www.gov.scot/publications/suspected-drug-deaths-scotland-october-december-2024/pages/3/ Of particular interest: A majority (64%) of suspected drug deaths were of people aged between 35 and 54 years. This is broadly in line with previous periods. There were 34 suspected drug deaths in the under 25 age group, 37% (20) fewer than … Continue reading Suspected drug deaths fall again for 3rd quarter in a row to lowest since 2017 and plummet for younger abusers

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Labour Freedom of Information request on cervical cancer with figures edited and used to scare by omitting the wider facts

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Professor John Robertson OBA I used to teach Research Methods to BA Journalism students. Nice kids with ambitions to helpfully inform readers. I worry for them now. Corporate and state media care little for informing, seek only to attract readers with scares and titillation and, must surely damage the mental health of those who work within. First, that claim – Wait times for cervical examinations increase in all but one health area since 2019 – is based on a Labour Freedom of Information request with the results edited to pick out this negative example and fed to uncritical media but … Continue reading Labour Freedom of Information request on cervical cancer with figures edited and used to scare by omitting the wider facts

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The Herald’s reporting on homes is ‘Not fit for trust’ and ‘well below a tolerable standard’ as proper researchers find 90% of Scottish homes entirely free of damp

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Professor John Robertson OBA In the Herald today: More than 700,000 Scottish homes are classed as not fit for habitation – with 600,000 more properties registered as below a legal tolerable standard since the pandemic, The Herald can reveal. Official surveys carried out for the Scottish Government show that in 2023, the number of Scots properties falling below the ‘tolerable standard’ in order to be fit for habitation has shot up from an estimated 54,000 (2%) in 2018 to 729,000 (27%) in 2023. The report is keen to link the above figures to child deaths: OMG, we think, until we … Continue reading The Herald’s reporting on homes is ‘Not fit for trust’ and ‘well below a tolerable standard’ as proper researchers find 90% of Scottish homes entirely free of damp

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Increasing cases of Parkinson’s in Scotland – latest research into causes and Monsanto’s $8 billion US pay-outs

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Professor John Robertson OBA BBC UK has been featuring new technologies to assist people with Parkinson’s, today. Two days ago, the BMJ reported new research on the condition’s global surge in cases. The BMJ site was down as I wrote this but parkinson’s europe has this: A new modelling study published today in the BMJ (British Medical Journal) suggests there will be 25 million people living with Parkinson’s worldwide by 2050, more than doubling the current global prevalence of Parkinson’s. Researchers from Capital Medical University in Beijing, China, conducted this latest modelling study using data from the 2021 Global Burden of Disease … Continue reading Increasing cases of Parkinson’s in Scotland – latest research into causes and Monsanto’s $8 billion US pay-outs

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NHS Scotland’s ‘excellent ovarian [and other] cancer services across Scotland’

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Professor John Robertson OBA The Express today, rehashing a Record story on February 13th 2025, has the sickly headline: John Swinney shamed over NHS failures to treat Scottish women with ovarian cancer It’s nonsense. The facts, first on all cancers: In the Guardian on 3 February 2025: 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 patients will die unnecessarily unless the NHS gets to grips quickly with the delays. Analysis of new NHS figures by Radiotherapy UK shows that in the … Continue reading NHS Scotland’s ‘excellent ovarian [and other] cancer services across Scotland’

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Leading European expert says Scotland is ‘at the very top pillar with regards to patient safety’ since 2007 but BBC Scotland desperately try to hide that from you

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In Scotland’s health service every day on average. That’s according to figures obtained by the BBC. Data released under a Freedom of Information requests show the number of significant adverse events, including avoidable deaths jumped by 41% in the last four years. Professor John Robertson OBA This wee story today seems to be another one of those carried out by the Pacific Quay team, at public expense, in the hope of undermining the Scottish Government via the NHS. Details are not available at the BBC Scotland website, as yet but I’m looking forward to seeing how the wee souls came … Continue reading Leading European expert says Scotland is ‘at the very top pillar with regards to patient safety’ since 2007 but BBC Scotland desperately try to hide that from you

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As vaccination levels fall in neighbouring UK and cases and adult measles deaths increase how Scotland’s crucial high vaccination rate gets no coverage

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By Professor John Robertson OBA From the Guardian today: An adult who was infected with measles has died in New Mexico, state health officials announced Thursday, though the virus has not been confirmed as the cause of death. The person was from Lea county, just across the state line from the west Texas region where 159 measles cases have been identified and a school-age child died last week – the first US measles death in a decade. New Mexico health officials have not linked the outbreak there to the Texas cases. On Tuesday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention … Continue reading As vaccination levels fall in neighbouring UK and cases and adult measles deaths increase how Scotland’s crucial high vaccination rate gets no coverage

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STV’s shameless failure to report accurately or fairly on children’s mental health waiting times and reliance on one private consultant for opinion

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but today brought some positive news. The Children’s Mental Health waiting time target has been met for the first time in its 10 year history. By Professor John Robertson OBA STV last night opened with the above. After some time with the minister we see a long interview, right to the end, with Dr Becky Howie, a private sector consultant, with her own business – maldodlife.co.uk – to hear: and to doubt the validity of the stats, all on her own commercial self. Why has STV not asked someone at the frontline in NHS Scotland? Also, why has STV not … Continue reading STV’s shameless failure to report accurately or fairly on children’s mental health waiting times and reliance on one private consultant for opinion

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BBC Kent do not ask Labour Government, Health Secretary or local MP why A&E patients sit in their faeces for up to 50 hours – Imagine that in Scotland?

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Professor John Robertson OBA From BBC Kent today: Frail patients ‘told to soil themselves’ at A&E – Frail patients at a Kent hospital emergency department were “told to soil themselves” because there was no one to take them to the toilet, staff have said.Patients at the Medway Maritime Hospital in Gillingham faced waits of more than 50 hours with no access to wash facilities, with some left “sitting in their own faeces“, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) was told. An inspection by the CQC in February 2024 rated the emergency department as “requires improvement” and issued a warning notice for … Continue reading BBC Kent do not ask Labour Government, Health Secretary or local MP why A&E patients sit in their faeces for up to 50 hours – Imagine that in Scotland?