Tag: nhs

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NHS Scotland treating 20% more in 12 weeks than NHS England in 12 weeks as think-tank predicts a crisis there by the next election

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Across the BBC this morning and in the Telegraph, the above and: NHS waiting times will be twice as long as Labour promised by the next election, new analysis shows. The health service will fail to meet the 18-week waiting target that had been a flagship pledge of Sir Keir Starmer’s premiership, a report by the Health Foundation think tank predicts. Instead, it says, based on the rate of progress in Labour’s first two years in power, patients will still be waiting an average 35 weeks in 2029 – almost twice as long as promised. The Government will have barely … Continue reading NHS Scotland treating 20% more in 12 weeks than NHS England in 12 weeks as think-tank predicts a crisis there by the next election

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Scotland is not having England’s maternity-litigation crisis – AI dismisses Scotsman’s crisis invention

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In the Scotsman yesterday, the above and: A long-awaited review aimed at identifying “systemic changes” to Scotland’s crisis-hit maternity services has begun. The nine month-long nationwide review will examine how care can be improved for women, babies, and families across the country. Many believe AI will tell you what you want to hear but that is only true on subjective matters relating to your life experience and choices. I often ask about stories like the one above and too often AI will uncritically accept the MSM framing and at first agree with the Scotsman that there is a crisis in … Continue reading Scotland is not having England’s maternity-litigation crisis – AI dismisses Scotsman’s crisis invention

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Little evidence for a looming A&E ‘winter crisis’ in Scotland

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The above graphs show a steep rise in the number waiting longer than the 4, 8 and 12 hour targets, in full emergency departments in Scotland, after the pandemic and then stabilising around the same seasonal peaks and dips since then. 1 While there are, always multiple explanations of the same phenomenon, globally, independent academic researchers (links below) have identified the ‘differences that make a difference:’ Pandemic after-effects locked the system into a worse equilibrium. Staff sickness, burnout and vacancies remained high even where headcount later rose. Infection-control steps, testing and cohorting slowed flow and some of that friction persisted. … Continue reading Little evidence for a looming A&E ‘winter crisis’ in Scotland

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When they tell you there’s no evidence for Swinney’s radical plan to merge Scotland’s health boards, here’s what to say

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On BBC Scotland, today, the above headline claim and: Leading doctors are calling on the Scottish government to withdraw its plans to drastically reduce the number of health boards. The new chairwoman of BMA Scotland, Dr Nora Murray-Cavanagh, said the proposal to cut the number from 14 to just two would be costly and time consuming – and that there was no clear evidence it would benefit patients. So, the BMA Scotland branch is a very part-time GP and union organiser heavily distracted by politics, who, with the best will in the world, will be hard-pushed to top any committed … Continue reading When they tell you there’s no evidence for Swinney’s radical plan to merge Scotland’s health boards, here’s what to say

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Primary Care Walk In Centres traffic soars ten times in just first 6 months of pilot

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With only 1 day left, support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at:Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-goingOr by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 From GP led walk-in services monthly Month ending 31 August 2026 published today, the above table and this below: A case is used to identify a patient’s single encounter (service contact) with the Walk-In  service. 2. Note that a patient can have more than one case  at a centre in a month and will be counted on each occasion. 3. Clinics have been opened in a phased approach, so some have been … Continue reading Primary Care Walk In Centres traffic soars ten times in just first 6 months of pilot

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In one year NHS England declared 217 times as many critical and major incidents as NHS Scotland did

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With only 3 days left, support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 As BBC Scotland today reports a critical incident in NHS Grampian, we can report that, in 2024, the most recent year with a full report [above], NHS England reported 198 critical incidents plus 19 major [more serious] incidents; 217 declarations in total. Average duration was about 4.6 days. https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/annual-eprr-assurance-report-march-2025/ There was one NHS Scotland critical report in 2024, also in NHS Grampian. In NHS emergency-preparedness terminology, a major incident is … Continue reading In one year NHS England declared 217 times as many critical and major incidents as NHS Scotland did

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Corridor care is much less common in Scotland to save thousands

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The above report seems based on a controversial method, one favoured by the Royal College of Emergency medicine, but if true further dramatizes the consequences of Scotland’s far less frequent corridor care level revealed by ITV News in March this year. See below: Help Talking-up Scotland keep goingCrowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-goingOr by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 In March 2026, ITV News made it very clear, above, just how rare corridor care in Scotland was, in comparison with other parts of the UK – 4 times as common in Wales, nearly 4 times in Northern Ireland, and nearly 3 times as common across … Continue reading Corridor care is much less common in Scotland to save thousands

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NHS Scotland’s gentler touch keeps ‘ghost patients’ safe from harm

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Help Talking-up Scotland keep goingCrowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-goingOr by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 From the Guardian today: ‘Ghost patient’ policy wrongly removing at-risk people from GP lists, doctors say – An NHS policy to remove “ghost patients” from GP lists is inadvertently leaving some of the poorest people in England without vital healthcare, analysis has found. Under previous NHS rules, inactive patients at risk of being removed from their GP practice were given six months to respond to outreach. But under NHS England’s accelerated list validation timeline, introduced last October, patients now have only three months to reply. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/sep/23/nhs-england-ghost-patient-policy-wrongly-removing-vulnerable-people What are the … Continue reading NHS Scotland’s gentler touch keeps ‘ghost patients’ safe from harm

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Countess of Chester Hospital inquiry report omits one factor identified by Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health  which make such horror far less likely in Scotland

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Help Talking-up Scotland keep goin Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 The above report published today makes no reference staff shortages at the Countess of Chester Hospital but the hospital itself and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) did, 10 years ago in 2016. In the Guardian‘s Lucy Letby: killer or coincidence? Why some experts question the evidence in 9 July 2024: In 2013-14, the CoC neonatal unit had four deaths each year. Then, between June 2015 and June 2016, an unusual cluster of 13 deaths occurred. (The hospital has given different accounts of the number and dates … Continue reading Countess of Chester Hospital inquiry report omits one factor identified by Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health  which make such horror far less likely in Scotland

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14 more of ‘the smallest and sickest babies’ who make it in Scotland would not have survived in England but a consultant from Nottingham (!) tells us that Scottish Government delays are putting them at risk here

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are being put at risk by delaye in the reorganisation of neonatal care. Help Talking-up Scotland keep goin Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 BBC Scotland‘s insert in BBC Breakfast today includes this evidence from Dr Stephen Wardle, president of the British Association of Perinatal Medicine: So yes, delays in making progress with these proposals will be affecting the outcome for some of these babies. Wardle is a Consultant Neonatologist at Nottingham University Hospitals. The BAMP is essentially a trade union and not some leading research centre for neonatal medicine. Nottingham University Hospitals? From BBC … Continue reading 14 more of ‘the smallest and sickest babies’ who make it in Scotland would not have survived in England but a consultant from Nottingham (!) tells us that Scottish Government delays are putting them at risk here