Tag: healthcare

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Dr Kennedy BMA (Anti-Scotland) on Herald frontpage to hide this fact – ‘Controversial’ physician associates more than twice as common in NHS England than in NHS Scotland

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Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details By Professor John Robertson OBA, The role of physician associates [PA] is at the centre of controversy after the BMA sued the GMC over how they are to be described. Today, the BMA in Scotland, ‘top’ (not at all) doctor, Iain Kennedy, is on the front page of the Herald, to attack SNP ministers over the use of physician associates (PA)s in Scotland. What are PAs? Physician associates (PAs) are medically trained [but not full MD training], generalist healthcare professionals who work with doctors in multidisciplinary … Continue reading Dr Kennedy BMA (Anti-Scotland) on Herald frontpage to hide this fact – ‘Controversial’ physician associates more than twice as common in NHS England than in NHS Scotland

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‘Patients are suffering?’ Yet Scotland has almost twice as many GPs per head as England and Wales and around half a million more Scots report easy access to a GP than would have if they lived there instead

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Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details Professor John Robertson OBA BBC Reporting Scotland this morning has a short report starting with: GPs say patients are suffering because of ongoing funding problems This is not even based on one of the BMA’s typically flawed and unreliable surveys of their members. I’t’s ‘The BMA Doctors union’ saying it, so that’ll be just Iain Kennedy again. Is there anything Dr Kennedy never tells you? Just this: FTE GPs per 100,000 population: Sources: https://www.bma.org.uk/advice-and-support/nhs-delivery-and-workforce/pressures/pressures-in-general-practice-data-analysis https://www.gov.wales/general-practice-workforce-30-september-2024-html https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/general-practice-demographics-data-visualisation/general-practice-demographics-data-visualisation-up-to-1-october-2023/ Are patients in Scotland suffering more than in England & … Continue reading ‘Patients are suffering?’ Yet Scotland has almost twice as many GPs per head as England and Wales and around half a million more Scots report easy access to a GP than would have if they lived there instead

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As Scottish Government release new vaccine guidance, how babies have been better protected from whooping cough in Scotland

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Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/detailsProfessor John Robertson OBA From Public Health Scotland today – Whooping cough vaccine. Protect your baby from whooping cough: https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/whooping-cough-vaccine-protect-your-baby-from-whooping-cough/ It’s good to see no resting on laurels here. In July 2024, from the BMJ: Nine infants died from whooping cough in England between November last year and the end of May 2024, the UK Health Security Agency has reported. Altogether a total of 7599 cases of whooping cough have been confirmed in England this year, with cases continuing to rise from 555 in January to … Continue reading As Scottish Government release new vaccine guidance, how babies have been better protected from whooping cough in Scotland

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NHS England and Wales start to adopt the attitudes of their ruling ‘New Nasty Party (Labour)’ but Lisa Summers will struggle to find them here

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Professor John Robertson OBA From BBC Wales yesterday, the above and this astonishing news: NHS patients from Wales who need knee and hip operations in England face lengthy delays after a health board asked English hospitals to copy Wales’ longer waiting times. Powys health board announced the change as it could not afford the cost of how quickly operations over the border were being carried out, but patients have said they were not informed. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp89337gm7ro With NHS England and NHS Wales both now in the clutches of Starmerite thinking, you see how things will go for them both. Lisa Summers … Continue reading NHS England and Wales start to adopt the attitudes of their ruling ‘New Nasty Party (Labour)’ but Lisa Summers will struggle to find them here

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How much will the current doctor strikes and imminent nurse strikes further widen the already massive gap between Scotland’s NHS waiting list and that in England

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Professor John Robertson OBA In the Guardian yesterday, the above and: NHS bosses and the British Medical Association are accusing each other of endangering patients during the ongoing resident doctors’ strike. Their war of words centres on “derogations”, local agreements under which doctors who have joined the strike can cross picket lines to provide clinical care in a hospital. The escalation of the resident doctors’ pay dispute comes as it emerged that nurses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have voted to reject their 3.6% pay award for this year. Scotland’s media are very quiet on this issue yet with the … Continue reading How much will the current doctor strikes and imminent nurse strikes further widen the already massive gap between Scotland’s NHS waiting list and that in England

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As resident (junior) doctor strikes loom in NHS England, SNP settlement praised by BMA means NHS Scotland set to avoid thousands of excess deaths again

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Professor John Robertson OBA In the Guardian today, the above and: In a letter to the NHS chief executive, Sir Jim Mackey, the BMA council chair, Dr Tom Dolphin, and the deputy council chair, Dr Emma Runswick, said: “Your decision to instruct hospitals to run non-urgent planned care stretches safe staffing far too thinly, and risks not only patient safety in urgent and emergency situations, but in planned care, too. “Consultants cannot safely provide elective care and cover for residents at the same time. We therefore strongly urge you to reconsider your instructions to hospitals, which should be preparing now … Continue reading As resident (junior) doctor strikes loom in NHS England, SNP settlement praised by BMA means NHS Scotland set to avoid thousands of excess deaths again

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Leading health think tank praises new framework for population health co-created by Scottish Government and COSLA

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– ‘this is a major step forward’ –  ‘Despite the now released Fit for the future: 10 Year Health Plan, England has nothing equivalent’ – ‘England would do well to draw inspiration from its neighbour’. By stewartb A respected think tank focusing on health and care in England, the King’s Fund published (July 14) a blog post with the headline: ‘What can English health policy learn from Scotland? A coherent policy approach to population health.’ Source: https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/insight-and-analysis/blogs/scotland-coherent-policy-approach-population-health It describes the King’s Fund’s longstanding advocacy of a stronger focus in England on population health through promoting the ‘integration for health, as … Continue reading Leading health think tank praises new framework for population health co-created by Scottish Government and COSLA

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A free offer of a story for the mainstream media ‘serving’ Scotland: the Labour government’s new ambition for NHS England – no more than 10% of patients spending 12 hours in A&E – sets a threshold that NHS Scotland has NEVER EVER failed to better- NEVER worse than 8% and almost always very much lower! Why?

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stewartb The Royal College of Emergency Medicine issued a press statement (July 2) entitled: ‘RCEM Response to NHS England’s Urgent and Emergency Care Plan 2025’. This is part of the much heralded reforms to improve NHS services in England from the British Labour Party government in Westminster. I have little doubt that the same party in the run up to the 2026 Holyrood election, with the help of its mainstream media allies, will be telling us to vote Labour in order to get similar super-duper ‘change’ implemented for NHS Scotland. So what does the RCEM say about Labour’s plan for … Continue reading A free offer of a story for the mainstream media ‘serving’ Scotland: the Labour government’s new ambition for NHS England – no more than 10% of patients spending 12 hours in A&E – sets a threshold that NHS Scotland has NEVER EVER failed to better- NEVER worse than 8% and almost always very much lower! Why?

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NHS Scotland’s emergency stroke treatment saving thousands but the service remains in crisis in England after a year of Labour

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Professor John Robertson OBA Many thanks to Brenda Robb for both alerting me to this and for research assistance. In the Guardian today, the above, and: The NHS has repeatedly failed in its diagnosis and care of stroke patients, England’s health ombudsman has said. According to the World Stroke Association, more than 12 million people worldwide will have their first stroke this year and 6.5 million will die as a result. Strokes are one of the UK’s biggest killers, causing about 34,000 deaths a year, and the single biggest cause of severe disability. The NHS Fast campaign aims to raise awareness of the most common symptoms of … Continue reading NHS Scotland’s emergency stroke treatment saving thousands but the service remains in crisis in England after a year of Labour

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The BMA UK – a more serious, objective trade union than its lead in Scotland, Dr Kennedy?

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By stewartb The BMA may be a more serious, objective trade union than its lead in Scotland – based on his highly politicised statements using language designed for use in headlines by mainstream media opposed to the present Scottish Government – makes it appear! Below are some of its analysis and insights on the state of NHS England. Not a positive picture but even. so I can’t find a BMA spokesperson claiming that NHS England is ‘dying’ – and for the avoidance of doubt, England has long had a substantial number of people using private healthcare, a number which is … Continue reading The BMA UK – a more serious, objective trade union than its lead in Scotland, Dr Kennedy?