Tag: healthcare

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‘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!

johnrobertson834

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!

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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

johnrobertson834

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.

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

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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

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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

johnrobertson834

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

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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

johnrobertson834

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

johnrobertson834

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?

johnrobertson834

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?