Tag: scotland

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BBC Scotland faking baby death ‘spikes’ that were never there

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By Professor John Robertson OBA From Scottish pregnancy, births and neonatal data dashboard, published on 14th January 2025, you can see Scotland’s falling stillbirth trend with variation between 3 and 5 per 1 000 births around the ‘normal’ level of 4, from one quarter to the next. There is one quarterly figure of 5 per 1 000 in July-September 2021 but it is not repeated and is no more significant then the very low figure in the previous quarter. Scotland’s higher level of midwife and home visitor staffing must be credited as a major factor in this trend. In the second graph, … Continue reading BBC Scotland faking baby death ‘spikes’ that were never there

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4 tower block fires but no towering infernos in Scotland confirm higher building standards and more frequent safety inspections in Scotland

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By Professor John Robertson OBA I’m four-sevenths of an architect. From 1970 to 1974, I passed 4 years of the part-time Certificate course in Architecture at Glasgow School of Art before getting sacked for (guess). I could calculate how much reinforcing steel you’d need in a concrete beam, but it’s all gone now, except one thing. Everyone moaned about the local authority building control officers telling us our airy dreams were unsafe. Looking back, thank goodness they did. Anecdotally, I’ve often heard about stricter building control regulations in Scotland, going back for decades but maintained by the SNP these 18 years, as … Continue reading 4 tower block fires but no towering infernos in Scotland confirm higher building standards and more frequent safety inspections in Scotland

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Labour MP attacks her ‘local’ A&E in Fife, Scotland, despite it treating 3 000 patients per month more within the target time than her preferred local A&E in Croydon, England

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By Professor John Robertson OBA Yesterday on BBC Politics Scotland, from Westminster (see the backdrop), Melanie Ward, Scottish Labour MP for Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy joined the horde of ‘Scottish’ Labour MPs serving up and humiliating their local communities in the service of the UK Labour Party. From the local Courier in May 2024: A Palestine medical charity boss based in London has been picked to stand for Labour in the Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy seat at the next election. Melanie Ward was chosen to replace disgraced candidate Wilma Brown, who was ditched by the party after she liked “racist” posts on social media.1 … Continue reading Labour MP attacks her ‘local’ A&E in Fife, Scotland, despite it treating 3 000 patients per month more within the target time than her preferred local A&E in Croydon, England

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Sandesh Gulhane in the Herald today to mislead you on the state of cancer care in Scotland based on less than 1% of the cases and another infantile counting up to get a big number

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By Professor John Robertson OBA Based on a Scottish Conservatives Freedom of Information request, the Herald today has: 2 000 young scots faced delay to cancer treatments The figure, 2 418 is based on that primary school method of counting up for as many years as you need to, in order to get a big number for a headline. In this case it’s from 2014, so presumably 10 years, giving an average of around 240 per year. There are 35 400 cancer cases per year in Scotland1 so we’re looking at only 0.68% of the total. The Herald report does not … Continue reading Sandesh Gulhane in the Herald today to mislead you on the state of cancer care in Scotland based on less than 1% of the cases and another infantile counting up to get a big number

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The lure of a negatively framed headline about Scotland’s environment to conceal what the expert actually said

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By stewartb So a highly experienced journalist with the Guardian – its Scotland editor no less – demonstrates how to manufacture a negative frame for a news story.  As you read on, is the editor revealing that it’s OK for journalists supposedly serving the public in Scotland to mis-report – to  manipulate – the content of an interview in order to create a damning headline? As it’s well know that headlines impact readers, is this a blatant example of seeking to influence by deception? Note the headline (from January 19, 2025): ‘We are resting on our laurels’: Scotland faces significant challenge … Continue reading The lure of a negatively framed headline about Scotland’s environment to conceal what the expert actually said

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12 hour A&E waits TWICE as long in England and nearly THREE TIMES as long in Wales

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By stewartb Re long periods of time spent in A&E: Performance statistics for A&E waits, NHS England, November and December 2024: Source: https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ae-waiting-times-and-activity/ae-attendances-and-emergency-admissions-2024-25/ Over 12 hour delays = 54,207 patients – from decision to admit to admission. This equates to 1,749 decision to admit delays over 12 hours per day, an increase of 23.6% (334 patients daily) from December 2023. Question: how long had these c.54k patients already spent in an A&E department up to the time the decision to admit them was made? In other words what was the TOTAL time they spent in A&E – how much longer than 12 … Continue reading 12 hour A&E waits TWICE as long in England and nearly THREE TIMES as long in Wales

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84 000 Scots are paid the living wage [but not by Mrs Sarwar]who would not be in England and 840 000 more in England are not but would be if they lived in Scotland

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In the Guardian yesterday: Low-paid cleaners have accused the Living Wage Foundation of giving accreditation to an “uncaring” outsourcing company paying less than the living wage. Facilities services giant OCS is accredited under a bespoke scheme for outsourcing firms. But the company has only committed to paying a living wage to its centrally employed staff. The scheme does not cover the majority of OCS’s 50,000 workforce, who are tied to external contracts. 1 What’s the picture across the UK? Scotland has the highest proportion of workers aged 18 and over who are paid the real Living Wage at 89.9% – ahead of … Continue reading 84 000 Scots are paid the living wage [but not by Mrs Sarwar]who would not be in England and 840 000 more in England are not but would be if they lived in Scotland

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Baron Grayling’s former constituency hospital parking patients head-to-toe in A&E after 23 years of Tory-representation

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Chris Grayling, famous for trying to ban books in prisons, comparing Manchester’s Moss Side to the Wire and giving ferry contracts to a company with no ferries, was MP for Epsom and Newell where the local hospital had a visit from Mirror reporters, above. Grayling was MP for 23 years, until 2024, giving him time, you’d think to work with (press) the local hospital to improve performance. Not so it seems. The SNP have had a bit less time than Grayling, but have done better. UK Government statistics confirm NHS Scotland’s A&E departments have been performing significantly better for nearly … Continue reading Baron Grayling’s former constituency hospital parking patients head-to-toe in A&E after 23 years of Tory-representation

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Shocking inequalities in NHS England’s maternity care not apparent in Scotland where standards are being further ensured thanks to Scottish Government plans

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‘shocking inequalities’ in maternity services… the deaths of 56 babies and 2 mothers at Leeds Teaching Hospital may have been preventable. By Professor John Robertson OBA BBC News at 6 [January 2025] has the above astonishing report goes on to list 6 or 7 other locations with comparable concerns to those in Leeds but there as no suggestion of blame for the current or previous governments. In November 2023, I was able to write: Note the wee print under the photo – 85 dangerously substandard maternity units in NHS England. The ‘Scottish’ media are quiet. If they had something, they’d be all over … Continue reading Shocking inequalities in NHS England’s maternity care not apparent in Scotland where standards are being further ensured thanks to Scottish Government plans

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There is no evidence of ‘regular’ care in extra beds and corridors in Scotland as BBC Scotland make up the numbers from a survey where less than 1% bothered to respond across the UK

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Professor John Robertson OBA In a 457 page report, On the frontline of the UK’s corridor care crisis, from the RCN UK, the word ‘Scotland’ appears only twice in the text and, other than that, as the page header of a section where there are anonymised statements from an unspecified number of respondents. I am not, of course, saying that events do not happen in corridors and that care never takes place there, in Scotland but I am saying that this report does not provide evidence of it happening regularly as BBC Scotland claims today. The report only suggests ‘more than 5 … Continue reading There is no evidence of ‘regular’ care in extra beds and corridors in Scotland as BBC Scotland make up the numbers from a survey where less than 1% bothered to respond across the UK