NHS England asking hospitals to make patients wait longer and reduce the numbers they treat until the end of the financial year! Imagine that was in Scotland?

Professor John Robertson OBA From BBC Health today, the above and: Access to hospital treatments is being restricted in many areas of England as the NHS struggles to balance its books, the BBC has learnt. Regional health boards have ordered some hospitals to cut back on the number of patients they are seeing, meaning hundreds of thousands of patients could have to wait longer for treatment. NHS managers said they were between a “rock and a hard place” trying to juggle balancing the books with tackling the hospital backlog, which currently stands at 7.4 million. Reducing waits for things like … Continue reading NHS England asking hospitals to make patients wait longer and reduce the numbers they treat until the end of the financial year! Imagine that was in Scotland?

Why frailty among older people seems less common to GPs in Scotland – Stronger family cohesion and less family fragmentation

Professor John Robertson OBA From the Guardian yesterday: GPs failing older people living with frailty, National Audit Office finds Did the national audit report blame the Labour Government for any of this? Did it note that England had far fewer GPs per head than Scotland. No and no. I asked AI: Are there reports of GPs failing older people living with frailty in Scotland? While there are no explicit reports mirroring the recent National Audit Office (NAO) findings in England—where GPs were found to be failing in assessing and supporting older people living with frailty, with only 16-18% receiving key … Continue reading Why frailty among older people seems less common to GPs in Scotland – Stronger family cohesion and less family fragmentation

Submissive Ayr MP feeds English Health Secretary with lies about her own NHS which is far better than his and betrays all the staff in her constituency

Professor John Robertson OBA On 25 November, Elaine Stewart, MP for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock, joined the tragic trail of Scottish Labour MPs prepared misrepresent their own NHS boards in order to win favour with the UK Labour leadership. Here are the facts she dare not mention: From NHS waiting times – stage of treatment published yesterday, the above impressive signs of progress. with increasing numbers treated yet plummeting longer waits. https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/nhs-waiting-times-stage-of-treatment/stage-of-treatment-waiting-times-inpatients-day-cases-and-new-outpatients-25-november-2025/ Important note – These latest statistics up to 31 October 2025 cover all patients waiting for a new outpatient appointment or treatment as an inpatient or day case, as well as … Continue reading Submissive Ayr MP feeds English Health Secretary with lies about her own NHS which is far better than his and betrays all the staff in her constituency

News you won’t hear – Scottish Government’s ‘world-leading’ legislation on NHS staffing levels is already working as staffing ratios in Scotland are already significantly better

Professor John Robertson OBA From the Scottish Government yesterday: The Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019 (“the Act”) is the UK’s first multidisciplinary staffing legislation and Scotland became world leading by enshrining such legislation which applies across our entire health and care system. This legislative step reflected our unwavering commitment to delivering high-quality care and improving outcomes for service users. The core aim of the Act, to enable better care through appropriate staffing, has been the subject of much focus in its first year of implementation. Early evidence indicates that the Act is fostering greater transparency in staffing decisions and … Continue reading News you won’t hear – Scottish Government’s ‘world-leading’ legislation on NHS staffing levels is already working as staffing ratios in Scotland are already significantly better

How can future of GP services in Scotland be ‘hanging in the balance’ when on average a GP in England has 560 more patients on his books and the BMA in England says UK Government should ‘simply follow the example of the government in Scotland?’

Professor John Robertson OBA The BMA Scotland really needs to think about their relationship with the Scottish Government before they start making claims like the above. Specifically on GP supply and access, a useful exercise might be to look south. From LBC News yesterday: Wes Streeting hits out at BMA for ‘misleading’ claims amid GP access row The Health Secretary and the union are locked in a dispute over changes to how patients can contact their family doctors. Before looking at the relationship between the Scottish Government and doctors as seen from the BMA UK, let’s have a look at … Continue reading How can future of GP services in Scotland be ‘hanging in the balance’ when on average a GP in England has 560 more patients on his books and the BMA in England says UK Government should ‘simply follow the example of the government in Scotland?’

SNP Government initiatives leading to plummeting waiting lists with overall list now 5% shorter than NHS England

Professor John Robertson OBA From NHS waiting times – stage of treatment published yesterday, the above impressive signs of progress. with increasing numbers treated yet plummeting longer waits. https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/nhs-waiting-times-stage-of-treatment/stage-of-treatment-waiting-times-inpatients-day-cases-and-new-outpatients-25-november-2025/ Important note – These latest statistics up to 31 October 2025 cover all patients waiting for a new outpatient appointment or treatment as an inpatient or day case, as well as those seen and removed from a waiting list covered by the national standards. Individual patients are counted more than once if they are waiting to attend more than one scheduled hospital appointment or admission, so the official statistics shown here … Continue reading SNP Government initiatives leading to plummeting waiting lists with overall list now 5% shorter than NHS England

NHS England is 10 times more privatised than NHS Scotland and patients there will pay for that not just in cash

Professor John Robertson OBA In the Guardian, yesterday, the above and: There are other threats to the delivery of NHS services too. The privatisation of the NHS is happening in plain sight. Last month, the government proudly announced that “A total of 6.15 million appointments, tests and operations were delivered by independent providers for NHS patients this year”, an almost 500,000 increase on last year, which it says is “helping to cut waiting times [and] free up NHS capacity”. How can this be so? There’s a finite number of doctors, nurses and surgeons in the country. If medical staff increase their work … Continue reading NHS England is 10 times more privatised than NHS Scotland and patients there will pay for that not just in cash

Scotland has 3 322 district nurses and England has shockingly only 4 000 for more than TEN TIMES the population

UK Government plans to move more NHS England care into the community and out of hospitals won’t be achievable with far fewer district nurses than in Scotland By stewartb Another contrast in favour of Scotland’s healthcare system which will receive no MSM media attention and candidly, little or acknowledgement either from the relevant trade union, concerns District Nursing. Source: Nufffield Trust (May 31, 2025) 1 in 4 district nurses leave NHS – fix district nursing or risk jeopardising plans to shift care closer to home, warns think tank.‘ (Typical of England-based health think tanks, one has to read into their reports … Continue reading Scotland has 3 322 district nurses and England has shockingly only 4 000 for more than TEN TIMES the population

How can midwives be at ‘breaking point’ with 15% more than NHS England and far fewer (zero) maternity units in crisis

Professor John Robertson OBA Remember the days, less than 20 years ago, when corporate media like the Herald would only have trade unions on the front page to suggest they were selfish, overpaid, dishonest, a threat to the economy, the nation even. These days, they’re ‘useful idiots‘ to be exploited in the campaign for Labour in the next Holyrood election. I have 1 bairn (born in Falkirk) and three weans (born in Irvine). The midwives were all wonderful. One of the consultants less so. I’m not doubting they feel under pressure but: By 2024, NHS Scotland had 2 581 midwives, … Continue reading How can midwives be at ‘breaking point’ with 15% more than NHS England and far fewer (zero) maternity units in crisis

There is no hospital in Scotland you need fear attending but in England, 31 you might be wary of and 5 you really need to stay away from

Professor John Robertson OBA Once again Public Health Scotland publish figures showing that all of Scotland’s hospitals are operating with the same high safety levels as each other. In the above chart we can see that all bar one, from the smaller hospitals on the left, to the giant Queen Elisabeth University Hospital on the right, no hospitals had a significantly higher standardised mortality ratio than the national average. From Hospital Standardised Mortality Ratios July 2024 to June 2025, published yesterday, the above graph and: For the period July 2024 to June 2025: HSMR is a risk-adjusted hospital mortality measure … Continue reading There is no hospital in Scotland you need fear attending but in England, 31 you might be wary of and 5 you really need to stay away from