In the Guardian today: The NHS [England] is paying private firms record sums to analyse diagnostic scans because hospitals are too busy and understaffed to do the work themselves, research has revealed. The amount being spent on outsourced the interpretation of CT and MRI scans is “spiralling out of control” and reflects a short-sighted failure to train enough doctors, ministers are being told. Scans are vital for diagnosing diseases such as cancer and for monitoring patients’ responses to treatment, so they need to be done quickly. Many hospitals, however, rely on non-NHS health companies reading some scans to ensure they get the … Continue reading NHS Scotland – only half the diagnostic scans outsourcing and building capability rather than just relying on private sector

By stewartb British Labour Party politicians and the MSM in Scotland have been working hard (colluding?) to shield voters here from the overwhelming evidence that whatever improvements Scotland’s NHS needs, there is no reason to believe they will be delivered by electing a Labour government to Holyrood. The Party’s track record of governing with (just) devolved powers in Wales provides ample justification for this view. The authoritative health think tank, the Nuffield Trust lays out the state of NHS Wales under a Labour government in power for c.30 years. It compares NHS Wales to the NHS elsewhere in the UK. … Continue reading Let’s not vote to have Scotland changed to be more like Labour’s Wales!

Thanks to Dottie once more for alerting me to this. This Sky News special on maternity services, ‘in this country’, is of course about England. They go on quickly to relate their special to the report by Baroness Amos and remind us that it made ‘pretty horrific reading.’ I watched no further. Why? Baroness Amos looked only at England. Is the Sky News special likely to be informative on Scotland? No, because: Thousands of babies and mothers avoidably dead in maternity trusts, twelve trusts under investigation and two trusts face police investigations into potential corporate manslaughter and gross negligence manslaughter … Continue reading Sky News reports on maternity ‘horror stories in this country’ but it’s not THIS country

On the front page of the Sunday Post, the above, aimed at its elderly audience to provoke another ‘That SNP!’ reaction, days before an election is from Geriatrician, Professor Andrew Elder (sic) of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. You see those ‘reports’? Indeed, no figures, no sources. These ‘reports‘ are associations, not direct proof of causation. The “excess deaths” method from the Royal College is a modelled estimate, not a count of individually verified deaths caused by delays. Patients waiting long times are often already very ill, which complicates attribution. Sicker patients both wait longer (due to needing … Continue reading There is no reliable evidence that patients die in A&E units ‘due’ to care shortages in Scotland only this Prof’s anecdotes again

The Herald today has: Scotland already has far more, per head of population, GPs, nurses, midwives and other professionals than other parts of the UK (table above, sources below) so Prof Cameron’s theory seems a little thin, simplistic. Here’s another explanation but one of course which cannot be laid at the door of the SNP Government’s limited devolved powers. The major rise in processed/UPF availability and reliance began decades earlier (1980s–2000s), becoming entrenched by the 2010s. This long-term poor diet quality (cumulative effects on obesity, inflammation, mental health, and chronic conditions) helps explain why health gains from medical advances stalled … Continue reading The causes of healthy life expectancy falling – Scotland already has far more, per head of population, GPs, nurses, midwives and other professionals than other parts of the UK so maybe look at this?