Another attempt to hide the true NHS England performance as waiting lists in Scotland keep falling

Please Support Talking-up Scotland at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-talking-up-scotlandClick on the above. Today, BBC UK present, uncritically, the suggestion that waiting lists are falling at the same time as they’re getting longer, in NHS Alice in Wonderland: BBC analysis shows more procedures and treatments are being carried out across the NHS in England, but still not enough to match the number of new patients joining waiting lists. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/l0057yrn This is just another attempt (more below) by NHS England to fiddle the figures on behalf of the Labour Government. The waiting list is the waiting list. Imagine BBC Scotland if NHS Scotland tried to … Continue reading Another attempt to hide the true NHS England performance as waiting lists in Scotland keep falling

BBC UK find ’55 babies who died may have survived with better care’ to add to police investigations into hundreds of avoidable baby deaths in NHS England but none in Scotland and NHS England pays out twice as much for maternity failings!

Please Support Talking-up Scotland at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-talking-up-scotlandClick on the above. First thing today, on BBC Breakfast, we hear of a joint BBC News/New Statesman, external investigation into maternity care at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust (UH Sussex) which has found: No government nor former government minister is associated, in the BBC Health report, with these horrific figures. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckg2n644l44o Starting with the last bullet point above but coming to all of them, we already know this about the relative performance of NHS Scotland, despite the continuous efforts by BBC Scotland, the Herald and Scottish Labour to pin a much smaller number deaths on … Continue reading BBC UK find ’55 babies who died may have survived with better care’ to add to police investigations into hundreds of avoidable baby deaths in NHS England but none in Scotland and NHS England pays out twice as much for maternity failings!

‘Tipping point’ with more midwives and far lower deaths? Police investigate over 1 000 avoidable baby deaths in NHS England but none in Scotland and NHS England pays out twice as much for maternity failings!

Please Support Talking-up Scotland at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-talking-up-scotlandClick on the above. The Herald today has ‘Tipping point’ for maternity services. It’s nonsense. Why? This: NHS England has to pay out more than twice as much as NHS Scotland for ‘maternity failings’ £1.3 billion was paid out in Scotland in 2024/205 compared to £27 BILLION in England. Per head, that £1.3 billion becomes £13 billion, less than half the NHS England pay-outs of £27 billion. Sources: https://www.healthcareimprovementscotland.scot/publications/media-release-inspection-report-royal-infirmary-of-edinburgh-nhs-lothian/ https://x.com/i/grok?conversation=1983476698260623709 https://www.cwj.co.uk/site/newsandevents/legalnews/costs_of_NHS_maternity_care_claims_revealed.html NHS Scotland caring for 8% of the population but with not one of the five major maternity crises and a system that is ‘equitable’ … Continue reading ‘Tipping point’ with more midwives and far lower deaths? Police investigate over 1 000 avoidable baby deaths in NHS England but none in Scotland and NHS England pays out twice as much for maternity failings!

SNP policy HALVES alcohol-related hospital admission as 93% of abusers treated within three weeks

From Alcohol related hospital statistics Scotland financial year 2024 to 2025 published today: Alcohol-related hospital admissions in Scotland, above, peaked in 2007/2008 at 43 038, after decades of Labour power in Scotland. After the first SNP government in 2007/2008, they began to fall then after 2018 when the SNP minimum unit-pricing policy was implemented, they began to fall even more steeply, to 27 126 last year. This, almost a halving of demand, is a major benefit for the NHS in Scotland, attributable to a policy developed by the SNP in government, these last 19 years. What other factor may have … Continue reading SNP policy HALVES alcohol-related hospital admission as 93% of abusers treated within three weeks

As one student nurse in England faces £77 thousand in debt Scotland’s free training and bursary means TWICE as many train to then give us 50% more nurses in hospitals and lower mortality rates

In the Guardian today: Helen Lambert borrowed £57,000 to go to university and began repaying her student loan in 2021 after starting work as an NHS nurse. Since then she has repaid more than £5,000, typically having about £145 a month taken from her pay packet. But everything she hands over is dwarfed by the £400-plus of interest that is added to her debt every month, thanks to rates that have been as high as 8%. Her total outstanding debt had ballooned to more than £77,000 by the end of November, and it is set to get a lot bigger as there … Continue reading As one student nurse in England faces £77 thousand in debt Scotland’s free training and bursary means TWICE as many train to then give us 50% more nurses in hospitals and lower mortality rates

Glasgow hospital infection inquiry – How under Scottish Labour, hospitals were ‘death traps’ of hospital acquired infections and how Nicola Sturgeon sorted it reducing the level to an eighth of the level in England and a third of the level in Europe.

In the midst of the frenzy of ill-informed reporting on the Glasgow hospital infections inquiry, important facts you’ll never hear. From the Journal of Hospital Infections in November 2012: The prevalence of HAI was 4.9%, 2.5%, 6.1% and 1.2% in acute, non-acute, paediatric and independent hospitals respectively [in Scotland in 2006].  https://www.journalofhospitalinfection.com/article/S0195-6701(12)00277-0/abstract From the Scottish Public Health Observatory, in 2024: The most recent comprehensive data on hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) in Scotland comes from a 2021 study led by Glasgow Caledonian University, commissioned by the Scottish Government. This study, published in the Journal of Hospital Infection, found that approximately 1% of hospital patients … Continue reading Glasgow hospital infection inquiry – How under Scottish Labour, hospitals were ‘death traps’ of hospital acquired infections and how Nicola Sturgeon sorted it reducing the level to an eighth of the level in England and a third of the level in Europe.

The embarrassing gap in intelligence, maturity and credibility between the writing of Daily Record reporters and that of AI

I was going to write this myself and I will add some evidence of NHS Ayrshire & Arran’s health below but, you know, we’re busy here and frankly, it’s not worth it, is it? So Grok AI – ‘Is it accurate to refer to NHS Ayrshire Arran as ‘crippled?’ No, it is not accurate to describe NHS Ayrshire and Arran as “crippled” in any objective, factual sense, though the term has appeared in some sensational media headlines.The health board is undoubtedly facing very serious challenges, particularly financial ones, as highlighted by official audits and reports from late 2025: These issues … Continue reading The embarrassing gap in intelligence, maturity and credibility between the writing of Daily Record reporters and that of AI

Reliable transparent 12 hour A&E figures confirm corridor care in NHS Scotland less than half as common as in Labour-run England but Daily Record uses a single tragedy on behalf of Labour in Scotland

It’s another single case plucked out by grubby figures, taking advantage of a distressed family and platformed, front page, by a newspaper little better than a Labour party election leaflet. Explicit figures are not published anywhere but there’s a good proxy for corridor care and that’s 12 hour waits in A&E. By definition if you’re waiting 12 hours after triage assessment and maybe some treatment before getting a bed, that is ‘corridor care.’ A fuller AI rationale for the use of 12 hour waits, based heavily on the views of the Royal College of Medicine, Age Concern and even NHS England itself, … Continue reading Reliable transparent 12 hour A&E figures confirm corridor care in NHS Scotland less than half as common as in Labour-run England but Daily Record uses a single tragedy on behalf of Labour in Scotland

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

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

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

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