Tag: scotland

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UK Government figures reveal that NHS Scotland performs significantly better than NHS England because it has 21% more staff after 17 years of SNP rule

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By Professor John Robertson OBA From The healthcare workforce across the UK: 2024 A summary of the cross-UK comparability of official direct NHS employment statistics and other relevant data sources, including non-official data, on specific healthcare professionals across the UK, published by the ONS on 6 March 2024, the following data on staffing at the end of 2023: NHS England – 1 308 825. With one tenth, or 10%, of the population, all things being equal, we might expect NHS Scotland to have around 131 000. However, it had 158 375, 27 375 or 20.8% more staff Source: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthcaresystem/articles/thehealthcareworkforceacrosstheuk/2024 Performing better? See: Support Scots … Continue reading UK Government figures reveal that NHS Scotland performs significantly better than NHS England because it has 21% more staff after 17 years of SNP rule

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Cancer waiting times – UK Government figures reveal that NHS Scotland performs significantly better than NHS England and shockingly better than NHS Wales and Northern Ireland

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By Professor John Robertson OBA From Waiting times for cancer treatment across the UK A summary of the cross-UK comparability of cancer waiting time statistics that are published by each nation published by the ONS on 23 August 2024 for Quarter 1, 2024: The percentage waiting longer than the 31 day [from the “decision-to-treat” a cancer patient to when the patient starts treatment] and 62 day standards [there should be no more than 62 days between a cancer referral being received by a hospital (specialist) to when a patient starts treatment]: *NI Q3 2023 is latest information So, based on the … Continue reading Cancer waiting times – UK Government figures reveal that NHS Scotland performs significantly better than NHS England and shockingly better than NHS Wales and Northern Ireland

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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