Tag: nhs

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NHS Scotland had 27% fewer delayed hospital discharges than NHS Wales after decades of Labour control there but Scottish Labour conveniently ignore that

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By stewartb More numbers designed to shock from the British Labour Party’s spokesperson on talking down Scotland’s health and social care services! Any context offered? The numbers on delayed discharge are to be deplored but are they really big by comparison to those incurred by Scotland’s peers? From the BBC News website, Wales section (November 11, 2024): ‘Staff burnout warning over plan to free NHS beds’ (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy5lqn19275o ) ‘At any one time, there are about 1,600 patients, mostly elderly, in hospital beds in Wales who are otherwise fit to be discharged. In some hospitals, this is 20% of all beds. ‘But delays around … Continue reading NHS Scotland had 27% fewer delayed hospital discharges than NHS Wales after decades of Labour control there but Scottish Labour conveniently ignore that

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As the Sunday Mail sickeningly exploits the story of a child coming from Morocco to the UK but denied treatment, to attack Scotland, how this small country has helped its big neighbour

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By Professor John Robertson OBA The above front page would be hard to dive below. There are only 12 beds in two facilities in the UK which can carry out this specialist procedure. A child living in Morocco cannot be helped quickly enough and NHS Scotland, one tenth the size of NHS England, is somehow blamed for a lack of capacity UK-wide. While the Sunday Mail may love to offer this kind of sickly tale, we never hear these stories: First, in the Guardian 12 September 2023 , but getting no coverage at all across the BBC or ITV or the press: … Continue reading As the Sunday Mail sickeningly exploits the story of a child coming from Morocco to the UK but denied treatment, to attack Scotland, how this small country has helped its big neighbour

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NHS Scotland is not lagging behind – Complaint to Editor of Times and their response, so much better than BBC Complaints

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By Professor John Robertson OBA To the Editor of the Times, regarding the above article, being widely copied in MSM and exciting Unionists, I submitted a formal complaint with this content; On cancer waiting times, you had: ‘The waiting times for cancer treatment are continuing to surge in England and Scotland, with only 73 per cent and 68 per cent of cases respectively meeting the 62-day target from the time of referral to the start of treatment.’ On A&E Waiting Times, you had 65.9% were seen within 4 hours in Scotland and 72.4% were seen in that time in NHS … Continue reading NHS Scotland is not lagging behind – Complaint to Editor of Times and their response, so much better than BBC Complaints

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Helen Puttick, ‘Scottish Health Correspondent’ in her Times article appears to be intent on misinforming readers and voters

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By stewartb From the disingenuous article in the Times yesterday: ‘In England Wes Streeting is demanding change in return for extra funding.’ What change? Something called ‘zero-tolerance’ and the introduction of ‘league tables’! Source: Nuffield Trust – ‘responds to announcement of new “zero tolerance for failure” NHS reforms‘ Press release November 13. ‘.. there is a danger the actions announced by the Secretary of State will worsen some of the patterns that got us into this mess. We know from the special measures for quality regime that “naming and shaming” NHS trusts can make it harder to recruit staff, which doesn’t help patient … Continue reading Helen Puttick, ‘Scottish Health Correspondent’ in her Times article appears to be intent on misinforming readers and voters

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Winner of ‘fake health news’ award churns out ‘fake health news ‘ on NHS Scotland to hide its clear-cut superiority

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By Professor John Robertson OBA Helen Puttick, ‘Scottish Health Correspondent’, above, winner the 2023 Sarah Hughes Trust Prize ‘for journalism that exposes misleading health information’ was in the Times on Saturday past with: SNP’s failure to reform has left NHS in Scotland flatlining. In England Wes Streeting is demanding change in return for extra funding but north of the border the service continues to stagnate under Neil Gray. As Neil Gray, Scottish health secretary, defended his chauffeur-driven trips to watch his favourite football team this week, frontline medical staff in Scotland wondered if there may yet be another changing of the guard. … Continue reading Winner of ‘fake health news’ award churns out ‘fake health news ‘ on NHS Scotland to hide its clear-cut superiority

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Rachel Reeves to fund a 0.57% increase in appointments in desperate attempt to catch NHS Scotland

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By Professor John Robertson OBA: From BBC Health, yesterday: Chancellor sets out new funding for extra NHS appointments then spells it out: The chancellor has said more funding will be provided to help the NHS deliver the extra 40,000 appointments and procedures per week – or more than two million a year – promised in the Labour manifesto. An extra 40 000, 2 million more every year? Big numbers, or are they Primary 7? From NHS England on 25 April 2024: GP teams delivered almost 30 million appointments for patients last month (March 2024), up almost a quarter on the same period before … Continue reading Rachel Reeves to fund a 0.57% increase in appointments in desperate attempt to catch NHS Scotland

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NHS England spending THREE TIMES more on private healthcare than NHS Scotland as their waiting list soars by 800 000 more under UK Government

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By Professor John Robertson: The Guardian today has: Private healthcare boom fuelled by NHS waiting lists. UK market rose to all-time high of £12.4bn last year, with NHS paying for nearly £3.5bn of procedures to ease backlog. More patients went private last year as the NHS waiting list peaked at 7.77 million in September, up sharply from 4.57 million at the end of 2019.1 There’s no mention of Scotland in the report so we can be sure ‘UK’, as often before, means ‘England’. In 2022/23, the total amount spent by NHS health boards in Scotland on private healthcare was £115,599,000.2 All things being … Continue reading NHS England spending THREE TIMES more on private healthcare than NHS Scotland as their waiting list soars by 800 000 more under UK Government

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NHS Scotland performance likely to be even further ahead as five examples of cover-up and distortion by NHS England managers is revealed

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By Professor John Robertson: We already know that, based on trusting the current published NHS England data, NHS Scotland’s A&E service is around 3 times better on the crucial 12 hour waits1 and twice as effective on cancer treatment waits.2 However, after decades of rampant managerialism, there have been a number of scandals where these managers, more concerned with image than truth, have introduced procedures to hide the facts. First, back in 2018, it became apparent that NHS England had the dubious practice of restarting the clock after A&E patients are admitted whereas in Scotland counting continues from first arrival.3 See … Continue reading NHS Scotland performance likely to be even further ahead as five examples of cover-up and distortion by NHS England managers is revealed

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The whole agency locum question is a reflection of a real crisis in the Welsh NHS workforce!

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stewartb ‘BBC Scotland is, undoubtedly, using a Scottish psychiatrist as part of its continuous attritional narrative, ‘that Scots are incapable of running things for themselves’. I’m inclined to check out – for comparison and useful learning – how capable the British Labour Party, long in government in Cardiff, have proven itself to be in running NHS Wales. After all, we in Scotland need to know what might be ahead of us in 2026! For example, Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW) released its latest NHS Wales Workforce Trends Report (as at 31 March 2023) on July 25, 2024 – see https://heiw.nhs.wales/news/heiw-releases-latest-nhs-wales-workforce-trends-report/ . Here are some … Continue reading The whole agency locum question is a reflection of a real crisis in the Welsh NHS workforce!

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Despite major increase in referrals, 95% of cancer patients start treatment within 31 days to lead the rest of the UK by some way

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From Public Health Scotland, today: There were 4,450 eligible referrals for the 62-day standard, an increase of 3.6% from the previous quarter, but an increase of 19.5% from the quarter ending 31 December 2019. 73.2% of patients started treatment within the 62-day standard, compared with 70.5% in the previous quarter. There were 6,981 eligible referrals for the 31-day standard, an increase of 3.5% from the previous quarter, and an increase of 9.3% from the quarter ending 31 December 2019. 95.5% of patients started treatment within the 31-day standard, compared with 94.1% in the previous quarter.1 The situation in other parts … Continue reading Despite major increase in referrals, 95% of cancer patients start treatment within 31 days to lead the rest of the UK by some way