Tag: politics

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‘My partner was well looked after’ in a Scottish hospital A&E department

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Our Reporting Scotland Up team’s Lisa Brightside was in Glasgow’s super hospital interviewing patients as they left. We met Joe Murray and his partner and they told us about their experience. BBC Scotland’s Reporting Scotland Down team and Lisa Summers were there too but had ignored Joe because he was smiling and had gone off to find someone who had been infected by the pigeon poo they had spotted outside. Here’s what Joe told us: Four weeks ago I had to rush my partner to A&E in the Southern General Hospital in Govan.I had no time to phone 111 so … Continue reading ‘My partner was well looked after’ in a Scottish hospital A&E department

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Charity is calling for implementation of graded model of miscarriage aftercare already available in Scotland across the whole of the UK – NHS England still considering a pilot

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From BBC Health and on BBC Breakfast News today: Early care scheme could prevent thousands of miscarriages a year – In the Women’s Health Strategy announcement last week, the government said it was considering “wider adoption” across the NHS in England. Baroness Merron, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Health and Social Care said: “This will be carefully considered as part of our ongoing work to make sure women get the high-quality, compassionate NHS care they deserve.” NHS Scotland is already making improvements in miscarriage care, including not waiting until a third miscarriage and providing separate rooms in … Continue reading Charity is calling for implementation of graded model of miscarriage aftercare already available in Scotland across the whole of the UK – NHS England still considering a pilot

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‘The SNP won the 2011 Scottish election on an anti- austerity platform focused on tackling child poverty, reducing inequality, and building a more inclusive and universal approach to welfare’

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By stewartb Views on the economic and social policy context that Scotland in Union experiences can pop up in unexpected places. In this example, it’s in a report from the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, University College London (UCL) on the implementation of free school meals in different countries. It’s co-authored by the Institute’s founding director, Mariana Mazzucato, professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value. The latter has a notably high reputation in the UK and internationally, including for work on various aspects of political economy and government policy development. This is the source document: Macfarlane and … Continue reading ‘The SNP won the 2011 Scottish election on an anti- austerity platform focused on tackling child poverty, reducing inequality, and building a more inclusive and universal approach to welfare’

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That BBC Scotland journalists ‘did not cover the referendum in the way they would have liked because of commands coming from London’ is untrue. It was because of this guy and others like him

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In the often excellent analysis by Prof Happer in the Herald yesterday, because it correctly identifies the bias in BBC Scotland as, for most staff, ‘structural’, ‘cultural‘ I’d say, I’d have to disagree with this: Happer, who speaks extensively to BBC Scotland staff, said: “BBC Scotland journalists felt they couldn’t cover the referendum in the way they would have liked because of commands coming from London” That’s a clear excuse, rewriting history. In 2014, I was approached by two younger staff at BBC Scotland News and neither mentioned commands from London. They did both say that the then Head of … Continue reading That BBC Scotland journalists ‘did not cover the referendum in the way they would have liked because of commands coming from London’ is untrue. It was because of this guy and others like him

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Poverty – Given the Labour Party’s track record in government in Cardiff over decades, what credibility can it have now in Scotland?

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By stewartb In its news report of the JRF’s statement on the election manifestos of political parties in Scotland regarding poverty, The National newspaper quotes the social justice spokesperson for the British Labour Party in Scotland. This demonstrates yet again the party’s political hypocrisy. On poverty reduction, Claire Baker states: “The SNP’s shameful lack of progress over the last two decades has made this all the more challenging and all the more urgent.” And: “Scottish Labour is determined to tackle poverty at its root, support the next generation and make life more affordable.” Fortunately we can assess the Labour Party’s … Continue reading Poverty – Given the Labour Party’s track record in government in Cardiff over decades, what credibility can it have now in Scotland?

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Four years after top Swedish health officer praises hospital safety programme now 15 years in place NHS Scotland pays out less than one sixth of the amount per head in malpractice claims compared to NHS England

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The Herald still desperately stoking the fires of supposed discontent with NHS Scotland which they hope might help save Anas Sarwar from a near extinction event on May 7/8. There is far bigger news on this issue. In 2023/2024 (latest) NHS Scotland payed out £47.3m for health-related complaints.1 All things being equal with ten times the population, you might expect the NHS England to be around £480m. It was £3.1bn! 2 More than 6 times as high, per head of population. Why such a difference? Scotland’s hospitals are safer. See this from 2022: Dr Pelle Gustafson, chief medical officer, of … Continue reading Four years after top Swedish health officer praises hospital safety programme now 15 years in place NHS Scotland pays out less than one sixth of the amount per head in malpractice claims compared to NHS England

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‘Will party manifestos meet Scotland’s child poverty targets?’ Has this fragmented think tank left out the obvious factor, based on their track record in Scotland or in the other parts of the UK so far, is there much chance they will deliver anywhere near the level the SNP has achieved?

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The Joseph Rowntree Foundation today asks: Will party manifestos meet Scotland’s child poverty targets? and opines straight-off: All parties have published their manifestos for the 7 May Holyrood elections, but they fall well short of the action needed to meet child poverty targets, leaving the next Scottish Government to match rhetoric with action. The researchers, above, base this largely on reading the manifestos and giving all the benefit of the doubt as to whether they might deliver them. This is hugely naive or predisposed to not consider what the SNP has done in Scotland with Labour in Wales and in … Continue reading ‘Will party manifestos meet Scotland’s child poverty targets?’ Has this fragmented think tank left out the obvious factor, based on their track record in Scotland or in the other parts of the UK so far, is there much chance they will deliver anywhere near the level the SNP has achieved?

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Sky News reports on maternity ‘horror stories in this country’ but it’s not THIS country

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Thanks to Dottie once more for alerting me to this. This Sky News special on maternity services, ‘in this country’, is of course about England. They go on quickly to relate their special to the report by Baroness Amos and remind us that it made ‘pretty horrific reading.’ I watched no further. Why? Baroness Amos looked only at England. Is the Sky News special likely to be informative on Scotland? No, because: Thousands of babies and mothers avoidably dead in maternity trusts, twelve trusts under investigation and two trusts face police investigations into potential corporate manslaughter and gross negligence manslaughter … Continue reading Sky News reports on maternity ‘horror stories in this country’ but it’s not THIS country

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Replacing migrant care workers with better paid locals – Scottish Labour can only offer a review that might pay more in 2028 (!) while SNP has already delivered a 7% increase now!

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In the Guardian today: Britain [sic] risks undermining the care workers it depends on. A new Fair Pay Agreement [FPA] is promised, with the government overseeing pioneering sector-wide negotiations aimed at improving the lot of these undervalued workers. The deal is intended to come into force from April 2028. Yet by singling out this group for the longest wait before they belong in the UK – with high-paid workers on a faster track – the Home Office seems to be validating the deprecation of this essential work that helps explain why it’s under-rewarded in the first place. The hope is that … Continue reading Replacing migrant care workers with better paid locals – Scottish Labour can only offer a review that might pay more in 2028 (!) while SNP has already delivered a 7% increase now!

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There is no reliable evidence that patients die in A&E units ‘due’ to care shortages in Scotland only this Prof’s anecdotes again

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On the front page of the Sunday Post, the above, aimed at its elderly audience to provoke another ‘That SNP!’ reaction, days before an election is from Geriatrician, Professor Andrew Elder (sic) of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. You see those ‘reports’? Indeed, no figures, no sources. These ‘reports‘ are associations, not direct proof of causation. The “excess deaths” method from the Royal College is a modelled estimate, not a count of individually verified deaths caused by delays. Patients waiting long times are often already very ill, which complicates attribution. Sicker patients both wait longer (due to needing … Continue reading There is no reliable evidence that patients die in A&E units ‘due’ to care shortages in Scotland only this Prof’s anecdotes again