Tag: health

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STV allow Sarwar to misuse basic statistics to lie about the best dentistry in Britain AND ignore Christmas!

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By Professor John Robertson Given a free campaign platform with no professional journalism in sight, Anas Sarwar is allowed by STV to claim Scotland faces a two-tier dentistry system, because: It comes after figures at the end of last year showed a drop in the number of people being seen by NHS dentists. Data from Public Health Scotland revealed that in December 2023 there were 245,501 patients who were seen or had contact with an NHS dentist, down from 396,084 the previous month. The number of dental treatments carried out on the NHS fell from 733,596 to 542,897 in the … Continue reading STV allow Sarwar to misuse basic statistics to lie about the best dentistry in Britain AND ignore Christmas!

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Has any part of the NHS in the UK been able to match delivery capacity with increasing demand for health services?

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By stewartb Workforce statistics need very careful analysis based on trusted, objective assessment which gives readers ‘perspective’. No longer confident in the BMAs credentials in this regard and certainly not in the The Herald’s reporting on NHS Scotland. NHS Scotland’s total workforce in Q4 2023 was 160,567 (whole time equivalents), up 18.9% over the past ten years and up 14.1% in the past five years alone. The Q4 2023 the workforce included: In Q4 2019 the workforce included: Source: https://turasdata.nes.nhs.scot/data-and-reports/official-workforce-statistics/all-official-statistics-publications/?pageid=1302 Looking further back in time, using this source: ‘NHS National Services Scotland (28 June 2011 ) NHS Scotland Workforce – Data … Continue reading Has any part of the NHS in the UK been able to match delivery capacity with increasing demand for health services?

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What BBC Scotland and the BMA Scotland were hiding from you this morning

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BMA Scotland, headed up by Dr Iain Kennedy, who has now shed the union flag on his twitter account, have a piece on consultant vacancies all over the media from 06:30 this morning on BBC Scotland. They’ll have had this one oven-ready for some time now. Why today? From the real BMA in London today: The BMA England GP committee has warned health service officials that the profession is ‘now in dispute’ with NHS England following the overwhelming vote to reject the 2024/25 contract. Is the profession in dispute with NHS Scotland? The silence talks. Continue reading What BBC Scotland and the BMA Scotland were hiding from you this morning

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BBC Scotland’s Eva was ‘inoperable’ because of ‘nursing shortages’ caused by the demands of the private hospitals Scottish Labour must now support

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By Professor John Robertson BBC Scotland milking another sick child story again. I’m amazed Anas Sarwar is not bedside cuddling her. BBC Scotland, last year and today, pin the blame on the SNP in government with: Mr Adams had previously claimed that nursing shortages at the Edinburgh children’s hospital were contributing to some young patients waiting up to three times longer for spinal surgery than they were pre-pandemic. First, there’s no mention in their report that Scotland has far more nurses and doctors per head of population than England. In 2023, Under the SNP government, we have over 28,000 more … Continue reading BBC Scotland’s Eva was ‘inoperable’ because of ‘nursing shortages’ caused by the demands of the private hospitals Scottish Labour must now support

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Measles cases surge from 0 in Scotland all ‘linked’ to travel….and County Lines drug gangs?

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From Public Health Scotland today (well tomorrow, it seems): Public Health Scotland is aware of five cases of laboratory confirmed measles in Scotland since October 2023, all of which have been linked to travel. The latest two cases were confirmed today, 16 February 2024. https://publichealthscotland.scot/news/2024/february/update-on-measles-in-scotland/#:~:text=Public%20Health%20Scotland%20is%20aware,and%20Rubella%20(MMR)%20vaccine. Why is five a surge? It’s up from zero, each year, since 2020. See graph above with 2020 mistakenly labelled 2000. Where might these cases have travelled from? From the Times two days ago: Measles outbreak fear as London overtakes Midlands in cases. Pockets of unvaccinated people in the capital create ‘perfect conditions’ for disease … Continue reading Measles cases surge from 0 in Scotland all ‘linked’ to travel….and County Lines drug gangs?

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Listening to Alex Cole Hamilton is like pulling your own teeth

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Alex Cole Hamilton – leader of the 5th biggest party gets another platform to misleadingly attack the SNP. Tonight, he even claims, and STV don’t challenge it, that declines in dentists doing NHS treatment is leading to people buying tools on Amazon to do dentistry themselves. So, first, the availability of dentistry in Scotland: 95.4% of the Scottish population were registered with an NHS dentist as at 30 September 2022. Nearly all adults living in the most deprived areas were registered with an NHS dentist in September 2022, compared to 91.9% in the least deprived areas. https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/dental-statistics-registration-and-participation/dental-statistics-nhs-registration-and-participation-24-january-2023 Meanwhile in England: Thousands of children … Continue reading Listening to Alex Cole Hamilton is like pulling your own teeth

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If you claim free prescriptions that you’re not entitled to, you could have to pay a penalty charge of up to £100 – in one of the 4 nations

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stewartb I stumbled across an online article from the ‘UK edition’ of The Sun dated 5 April with this headline: ‘DRUG DEAL Brits face having to make ‘unbearable’ decisions ahead of NHS prescription charge rise next month – The exact amount your prescription will rise by and who is exempt from charges.’ The main news is that ‘Charges for prescriptions will increase by 2.59 per cent as of May 1, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) announced.’ There are a less serious remark to be made about the piece and a wider and more serious observation. Throughout the … Continue reading If you claim free prescriptions that you’re not entitled to, you could have to pay a penalty charge of up to £100 – in one of the 4 nations

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Prime Minister Sunak defends wrong NHS record

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By stewartb From the BBC News website today (11 April): ‘PM defends NHS record as targets missed in England’. Today’s release of waiting times performance data for NHS England merited a high profile on Radio 4’s Today programme this morning. So what have we learned? In this online BBC article we’re told: ‘The NHS recovery plan set a target for the end of March for 76% of patients attending A&E to be admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.’ (The target used to be 95%.) And then this: ‘.. some 74.2% of patients were seen within four hours in A&Es … Continue reading Prime Minister Sunak defends wrong NHS record

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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

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Only 0.0008% of nearly a QUARTER OF A MILLION additional needs cases wait too long and there will be complex reasons for even those 2 but the Lib Dems care little for that

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By Professor John Robertson BBC Reporting Scotland today have a story not being covered by the BBC Scotland website: Long waits for diagnoses of neurodevelopmental disorders like autism and ADHD ‘s ‘harmful’ particularly for children. That’s according to the Scottish Liberal Democrats who obtained wait list figures through a Freedom of Information request. The report goes on to ‘cherry pick’ extreme examples of the kind we all know there will be complex reasons for, over and above any supposed staff shortages, and require a Scottish Government response to a problem entirely the responsibility of a health board. The report does … Continue reading Only 0.0008% of nearly a QUARTER OF A MILLION additional needs cases wait too long and there will be complex reasons for even those 2 but the Lib Dems care little for that