Tag: health

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BMA leaders praise Scottish Government on ‘our shared ambition of making Scotland the best place in the UK for doctors to train and work.’

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From the BMA in Scotland today, absent the views of Dr Iain Findlay whom I’m guessing the Scottish resident doctors have never heard of: Strikes by resident doctors in Scotland due to begin on Tuesday have been suspended following a new offer on pay and contract reform. The BMA Scottish resident doctors committee recommends members accept the offer, which is the equivalent of a 9.9 per cent end-of-year pay uplift for this year and 9.4 per cent for 2026-27. SRDC chair Chris Smith (pictured above) welcomed the proposed deal, which amounts to £149m for the two years. ‘From day one … Continue reading BMA leaders praise Scottish Government on ‘our shared ambition of making Scotland the best place in the UK for doctors to train and work.’

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Thanks to mutual respect and constant effort by SNP health secretaries Scotland still has seen not one health service strike, 150 000 procedures and unknown thousands of lives have been saved

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Less than one month ago, BBC Scotland’s Lisa Summers announced gleefully: Scotland’s resident doctors are to go on strike in a dispute over pay – the first time a national walkout has been staged by NHS workers. Their union BMA Scotland had accused the government of reneging on a commitment to restore pay to 2008 levels. With 92% of those who turned out voting in favour, strike dates have been set for 07:00 on Tuesday 13 January to 07:00 on Saturday 17 January 2026. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjdrp9205vro Yesterday, Health Correspondent Lisa was clearly not available (stress?) and Phil Sim (Who?) had to … Continue reading Thanks to mutual respect and constant effort by SNP health secretaries Scotland still has seen not one health service strike, 150 000 procedures and unknown thousands of lives have been saved

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Scotland’s Auditor General fails to audit the most important thing in the NHS and England’s doesn’t even try when he really should do

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Thanks to cuckooshoe for alerting us to this: Scotland’s high-profile media auditor, Stephen Boyle, has been all over with his latest claim of delayed discharges costs damaging NHS Scotland.1 From the Institute for Government report – Performance Tracker 2025: Hospitals – published on 14 November 2025: There was no month in 2024/25 in which general and acute bed occupancy was below 91.4%, well above the Royal College of Emergency Medicine’s recommendation that trusts should have an upper ceiling of 85% for bed occupancy.2 The auditor general for England has not audited this in living memory and certainly never bothers to … Continue reading Scotland’s Auditor General fails to audit the most important thing in the NHS and England’s doesn’t even try when he really should do

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First a Scottish Labour MP, then Alex Neill and now Jackie Baillie platformed to lie about NHS Scotland as nearly THREE times as many emergency patients per capita wait 12 hours or more in NHS England than in NHS Scotland

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Professor John Robertson OBA From the Daily Record today: A&E departments in Scots hospitals in ‘meltdown’ with waiting times at ‘worst ever’ level – A&E departments in Scots hospitals are in “meltdown” after waiting times reached their worst ever level for the month of November. First, I’ll deal with the 4 hour waits: From A&E Attendances and Emergency Admissions 2025-26, 60.1% were treated in Type 1 A&E departments, within 4 hours.1 In NHS Scotland, the equivalent figure was 62.8%.2 Remember that 2.7% difference means 40 000 more patients out of 1.46m attending Type 1 A&E, in NHS England would have … Continue reading First a Scottish Labour MP, then Alex Neill and now Jackie Baillie platformed to lie about NHS Scotland as nearly THREE times as many emergency patients per capita wait 12 hours or more in NHS England than in NHS Scotland

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Would this Ayrshire Labour MP prefer her local hospital to have corridor care at the appalling level in England – more than TWICE as high?

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Professor John Robertson OBA In the Herald today, undeterred by their embarrassing failure in Research Methods 101, yesterday, is repeating the same claims about corridor care in Scotland but this time, allowing one Labour MP to misrepresent their local hospital. They open with: “Decisive action” is needed at an Ayrshire hospital following revelations that its A&E department exceeded capacity by 50% in December, a local MP has said. Data published by The Herald has revealed that staff at University Hospital Crosshouse in Kilmarnock was forced to care for patients in corridors after running out of A&E beds. So, it’s the same answer as yesterday: There are no 100% … Continue reading Would this Ayrshire Labour MP prefer her local hospital to have corridor care at the appalling level in England – more than TWICE as high?

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Labour minister promoting new nuclear energy to enable nuclear medicine that brings significant cancer risks to workers emerging as new opportunity for Scottish Labour in 2026

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Professor John Robertson OBA From the United Kingdom Nuclear Laboratory on 16 December 2025: Science and Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said:  Cancer is a disease that affects millions worldwide, and tears too many families apart. Breakthroughs in medical science are giving more cancer patients and their loved ones hope, and this unique partnership could help take that work even further. Turning nuclear material into cutting-edge cancer treatments sounds like science fiction – but thanks to the brilliance of scientists, researchers and doctors, it could be a life-saving reality. Work like this shows exactly why we’re determined to support our life sciences innovators to make groundbreaking new treatments possible.”  Given the … Continue reading Labour minister promoting new nuclear energy to enable nuclear medicine that brings significant cancer risks to workers emerging as new opportunity for Scottish Labour in 2026

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Corridor care in NHS England more than TWICE as common as in NHS Scotland as Herald fluffs research methods again and NHS England’s fake figures are exposed again

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Professor John Robertson OBA The Herald today is headlining ‘Intolerable’ level of corridor care in Scotland’s hospitals’ with the above explanation of their method. They asked every Scottish health board for the design capacity of its A&E departments and for the actual number of beds occupied on the 1st of every month. There are no reliable data on corridor care, anywhere in the UK, and the Herald’s methods aren’t the worst I’ve seen but, based on the front page, only one of the 14 health boards – Ayrshire & Arran – is being used and for only 12 days in … Continue reading Corridor care in NHS England more than TWICE as common as in NHS Scotland as Herald fluffs research methods again and NHS England’s fake figures are exposed again

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Since 2021, 14 deaths due to circumcision in England and Wales but none in more-tolerant and more-regulated Scotland

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Professor John Robertson OBA From BBC London yesterday: A coroner has warned that further babies could die unless the government introduces regulation of non-therapeutic male circumcision following the death of a six-month-old boy in west London. Non-therapeutic circumcision is the removal of the foreskin of male babies and young children for religious or cultural reasons, rather than medical reasons. Mohamed Abdisamad was circumcised on 12 February 2023, by a circumciser who had been recommended to his parents and requested by them to perform the procedure on their son, the West London Coroner’s report said. The baby began showing symptoms of … Continue reading Since 2021, 14 deaths due to circumcision in England and Wales but none in more-tolerant and more-regulated Scotland

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Why does only NHS England need to declare an amber cold warning when its far colder here? Is it because our NHS is more resilient generally and because Swinney launched the flu vaccine programme two weeks earlier?

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Professor John Robertson OBA In the Guardian on 31 December 2025: The NHS is under “extraordinary pressure” and braced for a new year surge in sick patients as amber cold health alerts were issued for the whole of England. While the number of patients in hospital with flu is levelling off, according to data published on Wednesday, health leaders said the NHS was “not out of danger yet” with temperatures expected to plummet. On Wednesday, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) issued amber warnings for every region of England, which will be in place between 8pm on Wednesday until 10am next Tuesday. Previously, only north-east and … Continue reading Why does only NHS England need to declare an amber cold warning when its far colder here? Is it because our NHS is more resilient generally and because Swinney launched the flu vaccine programme two weeks earlier?

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As UK Labour begin to claim falling knife crime in England & Wales, why their headlines and their figures are less reliable than those in Scotland which are – ‘being on firmer ground in terms of official trustworthiness’

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Professor John Robertson OBA In the Mirror today, a deceitful headline suggesting a wider reduction in knife crime when the figures only relate to robberies where a knife was present. While applauding this, I suspect most readers were more interested to hear of a decline in violence where a knife was used. More generally, I’ve been wondering how reliable these new data are. You’ll remember, I hope, how various NHS England waiting time and drug death data have been exposed here. Lazily perhaps, I asked AI. Have a look a this and if you spot any weaknesses/flaws, let me know … Continue reading As UK Labour begin to claim falling knife crime in England & Wales, why their headlines and their figures are less reliable than those in Scotland which are – ‘being on firmer ground in terms of official trustworthiness’