Tag: mental-health

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NHS Scotland caring for 8% of the population but with not one of the five major maternity crises and a system that is ‘equitable’

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Professor John Robertson OBA From BBC Health today: Health Secretary Wes Streeting, has said “we must act now” as he announced a national investigation into maternity care in England. The announcement comes after a series of critical reports into maternity care over the past decade. Dr Clea Harmer, chief executive of the baby loss charity Sands, said the national investigation was “much-needed and long-overdue”. The ‘Scottish’ media are quiet. If they had something, they’d be all over it like nappy rash. I searched for ‘Scotland maternity inspections substandard‘ – only English ‘hits’. I searched the Healthcare Improvement Scotland site – … Continue reading NHS Scotland caring for 8% of the population but with not one of the five major maternity crises and a system that is ‘equitable’

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Families in England even more worried over lack of speech therapists and lagging behind Scotland, as the waiting list there is 17% longer than in Scotland

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Professor John Robertson OBA From BBC Scotland today, the above case study and: Families [well two] worried over lack of specialist speech therapists – A new report seen by BBC Scotland News shows that demand for speech and language therapists (SLT) is increasing in Scotland but that the numbers of therapists is falling behind the rest of the UK. The report, by the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT), says Scotland needs to increase its full-time equivalent SLT therapists by 370, from a current total of 530. It also says that Scotland is lagging behind England in terms … Continue reading Families in England even more worried over lack of speech therapists and lagging behind Scotland, as the waiting list there is 17% longer than in Scotland

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The history of the Tories, Liberals and Labour in covering-up systematic child abuse by MPs that underlies the more recent inaction by government and by police on grooming gangs

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By JB Independent Inquiry Child Sex Abuse From the 2012 investigation  ‘Allegations of Child Sexual Abuse Linked to Westminster’. “This investigation concerns institutional responses to allegations of child sexual abuse and exploitation involving persons of public prominence who were associated with Westminster. Westminster is defined in this report as the centre of the United Kingdom’s government, government ministers and officials, as well as Parliament, its members and the political parties represented there. Seven topics were covered in evidence. These were: police misconduct, political parties, whips’ offices, the Paedophile Information Exchange, prosecutorial decisions, the honours system, and current safeguarding policies in … Continue reading The history of the Tories, Liberals and Labour in covering-up systematic child abuse by MPs that underlies the more recent inaction by government and by police on grooming gangs

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Month-after-month, year-after-year, Scotland’s hospitals are ready to operate on more than 98%, or quarter of a million patients, on time, but get no media recognition, only the parroting of opposition party lies

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Professor John Robertson OBA From Public Health Scotland today, the above graph and: Of all planned operations during April 2025 in NHSScotland, 733 (3.1%) were cancelled by the hospital for clinical reasons, 638 (2.7%) were cancelled by the patient, 415 (1.8%) were cancelled by the hospital due to capacity or non-clinical reasons, and 85 (0.4%) were cancelled for other reasons. Source: https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/cancelled-planned-operations/cancelled-planned-operations-month-ending-30-april-2025/ Only that 1.8% figure can be meaningfully used to assess the performance of Scotland’s hospitals. Decisions to cancel by patient or doctor are to be expected in some cases as opinion and emotions shift. NHS Scotland was ready … Continue reading Month-after-month, year-after-year, Scotland’s hospitals are ready to operate on more than 98%, or quarter of a million patients, on time, but get no media recognition, only the parroting of opposition party lies

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They’re never going to tell you about this – 100% seen within the target for years, more than 80% waiting less than half the target time and numbers well above pre-pandemic levels – Scotland’s IVF programme creating and saving live

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Professor John Robertson OBA I’ve been reporting this success story, unique to Scotland, for years and BBC Scotland never reports it. From Public Health Scotland today, we can see that of the 353 patients referred for IVF treatment in Scotland, in January to March 2025, 40.2 waited only 0-13 weeks, 40.5% waited 14-26 weeks, 4% waited 27-39 weeks and 15.3% wated 40-52 weeks. None waited over the 90% in 52 weeks target.1 And from Fertility Scotland: Scotland is proud to be the only UK nation to provide up to three full IVF/ICSI cycles on the NHS for eligible couples with some of the highest pregnancy rates and lowest multiple births across … Continue reading They’re never going to tell you about this – 100% seen within the target for years, more than 80% waiting less than half the target time and numbers well above pre-pandemic levels – Scotland’s IVF programme creating and saving live

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In the wake of the Daily Record front page today – The Media’s Alarming Influence on Knife Crime Perception

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stewartb From a UK charity with a mission to reduce knife crime and improve community safety – https://knives4lives.co.uk ‘The Media’s Alarming Influence on Knife Crime Perception’ (November 15, 2024) – ‘The media holds significant power in shaping public perception and policy around knife crime in the UK. ‘While its role in raising awareness is vital, media outlets need to offer balanced reporting. Their reporting should be nuanced and precise. By doing so, they can help foster informed public discourse. This approach can also reduce fear and stigmatisation.’ And on what media influence could facilitate: ‘Furthermore, it supports the development of effective, long-term solutions to this pressing … Continue reading In the wake of the Daily Record front page today – The Media’s Alarming Influence on Knife Crime Perception

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Does the Herald think that police numbers should go up as crime falls more than twice as fast as staffing?

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Professor John Robertson OBA Taking a break from ferry fraudulence to policing propaganda, Martin Williams (Herald sole staff member on Wednesday?), has this today: Scotland has lost nearly 800 police officers since it became a unified national force 12 years ago leading to concerns about how it is able to cope, it can be revealed. The policing strength of Police Scotland has dropped from 17,324 in April 2013, when it was formed to just 16,553 this year – despite past promises to put an extra 1,000 officers on the beat. Based on the above statistics, crime has fallen by around 10% … Continue reading Does the Herald think that police numbers should go up as crime falls more than twice as fast as staffing?

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Royal College recommends NHS England’s A&E departments should adopt Scotland’s ‘front door frailty screening’

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By stewartb The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) has a press release (issued May 6) which makes a positive reference to NHS Scotland – yes really! The statement has this title: ‘An alarming threat to patient safety’ – over a million older patients endured 12-hour waits in England’s A&Es last year.’ It goes on: ‘Figures obtained by RCEM via Freedom of Information Act requests, reveal in England’s major EDs last year, a staggering 1,148,666 people aged 60 and over waited more than 12 hours to be transferred, admitted or discharged. That’s over 3.5 times more people when compared to … Continue reading Royal College recommends NHS England’s A&E departments should adopt Scotland’s ‘front door frailty screening’

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Number of police officers increases for third quarter in a row to remain higher than under Labour despite plummeting crime and far lowest level in UK

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Professor John Robertson OBA From Police officer quarterly strength statistics: 31 March 2025, published yesterday: At the same time: Many of us, understandably are skeptical about the picture of falling crime painted by statistics based on police recording. Correctly, we point to the fact that much crime is known to be unreported and unrecorded.2 However, the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS),3 carried out by independent University-based researchers interviews around 5 000 Scots asking them to speak of ‘their experiences of, and attitudes to, a range of issues related to crime, policing and the justice system, including crime not reported to … Continue reading Number of police officers increases for third quarter in a row to remain higher than under Labour despite plummeting crime and far lowest level in UK

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The deep irony of BBC Scotland talking about ‘hidden’ waiting lists when they routinely hide target-beating and lists much shorter than elsewhere in the UK

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Professor John Robertson OBA From BBC Scotland today, based on a feed from one psychiatrist and no actual figures, the above tasteless image and unsubstantiated headline. Let me be clear, as always, I’m not doubting the opinion of the medic here, but challenging the politicising of the unconfirmed data by BBC Scotland with a view to, always, implying failure by the Scottish, SNP, Government. In this report, BBC Scotland do credit the meeting of targets for children and adolescent’s mental heath care last month but when the data were first published on 4 March 2025, were quick to move on … Continue reading The deep irony of BBC Scotland talking about ‘hidden’ waiting lists when they routinely hide target-beating and lists much shorter than elsewhere in the UK