Tag: scotland

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Scots 28% more likely to find it easy to contact their GP than in Wales

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By Professor John Robertson OBA From Measuring NHS experience and satisfaction across the UK – A summary of the cross-UK comparability of NHS experience and satisfaction data. 30 May 2024, the above graph and data revealing a marked contrast between the accessibility of GPs in Scotland as opposed to in England and, even more so, in Labour-run Wales. Scotland has 27.3% more GPs than England. The Welsh figure? Can see that. Homework dear reader? Sources: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthcaresystem/articles/measuringnhsexperienceandsatisfactionacrosstheuk/2024-05-30#measuring-nhs-experience-and-satisfaction-across-the-uk-data https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/sep/04/nhs-faces-tipping-point-in-england-where-most-appointments-will-not-be-with-gps https://turasdata.nes.nhs.scot/media/v00by43i/2023_gp_workforce_survey_report.html#:~:text=Information%20from%202012%20to%202023,2023%2C%20equivalent%20to%203%2C478.4%20WTE 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 … Continue reading Scots 28% more likely to find it easy to contact their GP than in Wales

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UK Government statistics confirm NHS Scotland’s A&E departments have been performing significantly better for nearly a decade but ‘your’ media has been silent on that for the same period of time

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By Professor John Robertson OBA From Accident and Emergency wait times across the UK: 2024 A summary of the cross-UK comparability of Accident and Emergency wait time statistics from January 2013 to September 2023, the above graph. Imagine this was different and NHS Scotland had consistently performed less well than NHS England or Wales? You don’t need me to tell you. It would be just like the ‘Scotland’s drug deaths, the worst in..’ narrative. Also, there are reasons to doubt the NHS England data after decades of managerialism there, more concerned with image than actual performance, after decades of Con and … Continue reading UK Government statistics confirm NHS Scotland’s A&E departments have been performing significantly better for nearly a decade but ‘your’ media has been silent on that for the same period of time

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‘Better together to fight Covid?’ No, not only did UK Government try to divert supplies away from Scottish care homes they had previously caused the shortage, in the first place

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By Professor John Robertson OBA As the UK Covid Inquiry reconvenes, Lisa Summers is keen to remind us of how ‘Across the UK, teams worked together‘. In can see why BBC Scotland would love you to remember it that way. It’s not what I remember best. Many thanks to our feeder CMac (not the ferry operator) for this one. In the never-knowingly pro-SNP P&J and buried elsewhere: A UK Government decision to postpone a joint procurement process left emergency pandemic supplies “depleted” and dependent on extending expiry dates. Our investigation has found Scottish health chiefs privately questioned the move and asked whether it was driven by anything … Continue reading ‘Better together to fight Covid?’ No, not only did UK Government try to divert supplies away from Scottish care homes they had previously caused the shortage, in the first place

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ONS reveals NHS waiting lists for planned care are twice as long in Wales and 40% longer in England, than in Scotland

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By Professor John Robertson OBA Many thanks to Linda at Broadcasting Scotland for alerting me to this: From NHS planned care waiting times across the UK, as of March 2024, 8.9 patients per 100 were waiting under 52 weeks and 0.9 were waiting over 52 weeks in Scotland. In England, the figures were 12.4 and 0.5 and in Wales, shockingly, 17.1 and 4.5. The ONS reminds us: Each UK country has different healthcare policies, commissioning processes and patient data systems for planned care because of the devolved healthcare system; these affect the data coverage available on referral to treatment (RTT) or … Continue reading ONS reveals NHS waiting lists for planned care are twice as long in Wales and 40% longer in England, than in Scotland

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English County Lines drug dealer jailed for supply in Inverness but it seems it’s not newsworthy here

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In the Strathspey & Badenoch Herald, yesterday, but despite the powerful news values – violence, drugs, death – BBC Scotland, even their Highlands and Islands or NE, Orkney & Shetland teams can find no space for it: A 29-year-old Huyton man has been jailed for three years and nine months for drugs supply offences in Inverness after he was snared by a joint Police Scotland and Merseyside Police operation. Ryan Finlay pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of cocaine and possession of cannabis through what is called a County Line – a way of transporting illegal narcotics from cities to other … Continue reading English County Lines drug dealer jailed for supply in Inverness but it seems it’s not newsworthy here

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BBC England reveals that ScotRail had fewer cancellations, often far fewer, than any other other UK rail company in 2024

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I’m grateful to my old friend, workmate, dry humourist* and sandwich stealer, from events he hadn’t been invited to attend, Prof Mike Danson of UWS, for alerting me to this. Never to my knowledge reported by BBC Scotland, STV, the Scotsman or the Herald, this BBC England report from December 2024, reveals ScotRail, in 2024, to have had the lowest rate of cancellations of any UK train company, at 2.9%. You can check yourself with the link below but even those in the affluent South-East had 3.3%, everywhere else had around 4% and the North West had a shocking 6.5% … Continue reading BBC England reveals that ScotRail had fewer cancellations, often far fewer, than any other other UK rail company in 2024

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More than THREE TIMES as many Scots would prefer US statehood to staying as a UK colony

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US President Elect, Donald Trump’s recent comments on the importance of controlling Panama, Greenland and even Canada, for US national security, prompted the often insightful Professor Richard Murphy to wonder if Scotland might be next. Watch his explanation (6 min 21 secs only) at: I found it hard to take the notion seriously but thought then, why not see how a sample of Scots would respond to it. I feel sure Murphy would expect we’d all be horrified. I would but, for some reason, felt sure some Scots might prefer it to continuing the current colonial situation. Is Scotland currently … Continue reading More than THREE TIMES as many Scots would prefer US statehood to staying as a UK colony

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English financiers says ‘Scotland ‘subsidises’ London energy bills’ and it’s ‘better for Scots to pay over the odds than those living in the English capital’

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I missed this back in October 2024: Households in Scotland are paying higher energy bills than they ought to keep prices down south of the Border, according to experts at the Fuller Treacy Money investment strategy firm. In a newsletter arguing against zonal pricing, the firm’s owner Eoin Treacy [above] says it is better for Scots to pay over the odds than those living in the English capital. Zonal pricing, which has been considered by the UK Government in the past, would see places like Scotland – where lots of energy is produced but there is lower demand – pay cheaper … Continue reading English financiers says ‘Scotland ‘subsidises’ London energy bills’ and it’s ‘better for Scots to pay over the odds than those living in the English capital’

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‘SNP’s roasters and bangers’ who ‘loathe the poor and vulnerable?’ With such blatant lies would Kevin McKenna even get a job at the Daily Express or Mail?

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I’d kind of given up on reacting to Kevin McKenna, in the Herald, for the good of my mental health, but he’s got me going again today with: Human zoo drug rooms are win-win for SNP’s roasters and bangers – IS there no end to the SNP’s loathing of Scotland’s poor and vulnerable people, especially in Glasgow? If Scotland’s party of government isn’t threatening to imprison working-class people for speaking out of turn in their own homes they can be found trying to curb their drinking and inspecting the contents of their bins for signs of delinquent household waste practices. WTF … Continue reading ‘SNP’s roasters and bangers’ who ‘loathe the poor and vulnerable?’ With such blatant lies would Kevin McKenna even get a job at the Daily Express or Mail?