Tag: mental-health

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Lib Dems find Scottish Nurses lose 3 days a year to mental health problems, fewer than UK average of 8

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In another of their many, waste-of-public-funds-to-dig-dirt-on-SNP, freedom of information requests, the Lib Dems in the Daily Record on Boxing Day: More than 700,000 days of nursing and midwifery staff time have been lost due to mental ill health since 2020, according to figures obtained by the Scottish Lib Dems. Freedom of information data showed 762,975 days were lost across the 14 territorial health boards. NHS Lanarkshire had the highest total in 2023/24, at 24,342 days lost. https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/more-700000-nursing-days-lost-34374193 There are 65 270 nurses and midwives employed by NHS Scotland. https://www.nursingtimes.net/workforce/scottish-nursing-vacancies-falling-but-still-stubbornly-high-06-12-2023/#:~:text=The%20number%20of%20nurses%20and,in%20response%20to%20the%20figures.&text=The%20numbers%2C%20published%20in%20a,working%20in%20the%20health%20service. Most UK full-time employees work around 260 days per year. https://zelt.app/blog/how-many-working-days-are-in-one-year/ So Scotland’s nurses … Continue reading Lib Dems find Scottish Nurses lose 3 days a year to mental health problems, fewer than UK average of 8

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Will this Labour MP praise her local hospitals as they treat 99% of drug and alcohol patients well within the target time?

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By Professor John Robertson OBA As we try to settle our stomachs after the recent Jackie Baillie/ Herald/ BBC Scotland attack on a Clydebank hospital, it occurred to me that my new local MP is very quiet. Her office is largely ignoring constituent enquiries so the above hope is no doubt in vain. In October 2024, Jackie Baillie, in the Scotsman, ‘accused [SNP] ministers of failing to get a grip on the crisis‘ on drug deaths. Would 99% of drug abuse patients being seen in the target time of 3 weeks do for a grip? Would the MP for Ayr, Carrick and … Continue reading Will this Labour MP praise her local hospitals as they treat 99% of drug and alcohol patients well within the target time?

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Why Scotland’s headline drug death figures are currently not based on a reliable measure

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Professor John Robertson OBA Media and opposition parties are morbidly determined to hang onto Scotland’s drug death status as a rare apparently objective stick to beat the SNP Government into submission with. Earlier this year, they were all irrepressibly delighted to hear that there was a 12% increase from 2022 to 2023, following disturbing, for them, reductions in each of the two previous years after nearly three decades of satisfyingly climbing figures.1 These National Records of Scotland data are based on post mortem blood tests and commonly presented as more reliable than the Suspected drug deaths in Scotland. The latter are collected … Continue reading Why Scotland’s headline drug death figures are currently not based on a reliable measure

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Chronic pain treatment levels now even higher than before pandemic but you’d never know that if you relied on BBC Scotland’s Fiona Stalker

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Professor John Robertson OBA From Public Health Scotland today: During the quarter ending 30 September 2024, 5,315 patients were referred to a consultant-led chronic pain clinic. This is an increase of 2.8% compared to the previous quarter, when 5,170 patients were referred. Referrals to a chronic pain clinic are now higher than during 2023, when on average 4,990 patients were referred each quarter. Referrals are also higher than the levels seen prior to the COVID-19 pandemic when on average 5,197 patients were referred each quarter during 2019. https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/chronic-pain-waiting-times/chronic-pain-waiting-times-quarter-ending-30-september-2024/ BBC Scotland haven’t reported on chronic pain since 2020 when they found three folk … Continue reading Chronic pain treatment levels now even higher than before pandemic but you’d never know that if you relied on BBC Scotland’s Fiona Stalker

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SNP to reverse Labour’s cruel two child benefit cap and push on to eradicate child poverty for all of us

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By Professor John Robertson OBA From the National minutes ago: 2:40pm BREAKING: The SNP will axe the UK Government’s controversial two-child benefit cap for thousands of Scots. Finance Secretary Shona Robison will make the announcement in her Holyrood Budget speech in just a matter of minutes, according to The Scottish Sun.  This would be a big move, and one that will put Anas Sarwar and Scottish Labour in a tricky position …https://www.thenational.scot/news/24770245.scottish-budget-live-snp-set-tax-spending-plans/?ref=ebbn&nid=1457&u=373de6c7573215d01eab2a2993b269b0&date=041224 At 15:25 she did it! Why is this a major moment in history? From the London School of Economics in September 2023 Support Scots Independent, Scotland’s oldest pro-independence newspaper and host … Continue reading SNP to reverse Labour’s cruel two child benefit cap and push on to eradicate child poverty for all of us

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Almost 90% of Child and Adolescent Mental Health cases start treatment within target

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By Professor John Robertson OBA From Public Health Scotland, today: 89.1% of children and young people started treatment within 18 weeks of referral, which is an increase from 84.1% for the previous quarter and from 75.6% for the same quarter ending September 2023. The Scottish Government standard states that 90% of children and young people should start treatment within 18 weeks of referral to CAMHS. 1 Sources: Support Scots Independent, Scotland’s oldest pro-independence newspaper and host of the OBA (Oliver Brown Award) at: https://scotsindependent.scot/FWShop/shop/ The Oliver Brown Award for advancing the cause of Scotland’s self respect, previously awarded to Dr Philippa Whitford, Alex Salmond and Sean Connery: https://scotsindependent.scot/?page_id=116 About Oliver Brown, the … Continue reading Almost 90% of Child and Adolescent Mental Health cases start treatment within target

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Actual news – alcohol treatment hits 90% target, consumption and hospital admissions plummet

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By Professor John Robertson OBA From BBC Reporting Scotland today but not making it to their website, so a direct feed from Scottish Health Action of Alcohol Problems, claiming an ‘unmet need’ for alcohol treatment services. Not mentioned by BBC Scotland, these facts. First, on existing services: From Public Health Scotland on 25 June 2024: Alcohol and drug treatment services both seeing around 90% of referrals within 3 weeks, year after year, with a tiny, not statistically significant, gap in performance. The news is that these services are both target-hitting consistently and should be getting media attention for that but they never do. Source: https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/national-drug-and-alcohol-treatment-waiting-times/national-drug-and-alcohol-treatment-waiting-times-1-january-2024-to-31-march-2024/ Second, … Continue reading Actual news – alcohol treatment hits 90% target, consumption and hospital admissions plummet

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Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) waiting times approaching 90% target and waiting list slashed by massive 26% in Scotland is not, it seems, news

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By Professor John Robertson OBA From the Guardian today: One in three child and adolescent consultant psychiatrist posts in England are vacant, according to a “shocking” analysis laying bare the workforce crisis that experts say is fuelling “unacceptable” long waits for NHS care. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/nov/28/long-wait-for-nhs-mental-healthcare-has-stark-consequences-for-childrens-life-chances BBC Scotland are not picking up on this with a view to reminding you things are bad here too> Could this be why? From Public Health Scotland in September 2024: 84.1% of children and young people started treatment within 18 weeks of referral, which is an increase from the 73.8% for the same quarter ending June 2023. The Scottish Government standard states … Continue reading Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) waiting times approaching 90% target and waiting list slashed by massive 26% in Scotland is not, it seems, news

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Domestic abuse TWICE as common in England and Wales as in Scotland

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By Professor John Robertson OBA I remember in 2014, Frankie Boyle suggesting that Scotland become an Islamic Republic but that to do so it would have to treat its women better. From the Scottish Government’s Safer Communities Directorate today, the above graph and: The police recorded 63,867 incidents of domestic abuse in 2023-24, an increase of 3% compared to the previous year. This is the first year this figure has shown an increase since 2020-21.1 Note, from Section 1.2 of the full report: The Act [in 2018] did not alter the way in which statistics on the volume of domestic abuse incidents … Continue reading Domestic abuse TWICE as common in England and Wales as in Scotland

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20 peer-reviewed and published research studies find that NORMAL operation of reactors causes ‘cancers chromosomal aberrations, birth defects and miscarriages, and mental retardation after in utero exposure’ and Scottish Labour will risk more of that

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In an extensive review of research over the last 30 years, published in 2016 in the International Journal of Environmental Research into Public Health, Dean Kyne (University of Texas) and Bob Bolin (Arizona State University) identified 20 reports confirming that normal operation, as opposed to during accidents like that at Chernobyl, causes cancer especially after exposure before birth and in very young children. They write: Evidence suggests that individuals living near the nuclear power plants face difficult-to-avoid health risks associated with exposure to low level routine radioactive effluents emitted from plants. Given that no level of radiation exposure is considered … Continue reading 20 peer-reviewed and published research studies find that NORMAL operation of reactors causes ‘cancers chromosomal aberrations, birth defects and miscarriages, and mental retardation after in utero exposure’ and Scottish Labour will risk more of that