The Scottish media today are full of tales of rats, maggots and mice in hospitals, with £4.3m spent on pest control, by NHS Scotland over the last 5 years, on pest control . I can find no NHS England total but judging by a Guardian report in April 2023, based on a Lib Dem Freedom of Information request, each of England’s 142 trusts spent between £120 000 and £380 000 over the last 3 years. So, a conservative figure of £200 000 per trust, on average, over the last 3 years, £300 000 over the last 5? A total of … Continue reading Disappointment for journalists as Scottish hospitals report the same level of rats, mice and cockroaches as English hospitals

Professor John Robertson OBA Just about 11 years ago, I published this research report, revealing clear media bias against the Yes campaign in the run-up to the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum. It went viral in the following days and weeks. See: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/bbc-bias-and-scots-referendum-new-report/ BBC Scotland challenged the findings and reported me for ‘professional misconduct‘ to my employer – the University of the West of Scotland. After a nervous month or so, no action against me was taken. In March 2014, I was called by the Scottish Parliament to defend my work. See: I was followed by four of the BBC Scotland … Continue reading Talking-up Scotland 10 Year Anniversary

Image LDRS From STV yesterday: A huge GP surgery and health centre, which will combine services located at nine different sites, is due to open within weeks in Glasgow’s East End. There will be three GP practices based at the new building in Duke Street – Forge Medical Practice, Drs McKenzie and Burns and Meadowpark Surgery – as well as other services. The health and social care building is one of the largest of its kind in the UK, and it is hoped that patients will be able to access treatment by the end of January. When open, the Hub … Continue reading New £34m SNP Gov-funded multi-disciplinary GP and health centre opening in Glasgow, ignored by BBC Scotland and credited by STV to Conservative pressure on SNP council yet they have only 2 out of 85 councillors

By By Professor John Robertson OBA From BBC Scotland, this morning, after their ignorant and tasteless Christmas Eve attack, with the Scottish Cons and Labour’s Jackie Baillie, on the reputation of the staff at the Golden Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank, they’re back at it again today with more inaccurate reporting, this time on patient safety, with: A recruitment drive for Scotland’s first ever Patient Safety Commissioner has failed for a second time. MSPs passed a law creating the new independent public advocate for NHS patients in September last year. The first round of interviews for the £89,685-a-year role in April failed to produce … Continue reading Leading European expert says Scotland is ‘at the very top pillar with regards to patient safety’ since 2007, but on Boxing Day, BBC Scotland tries to compare us unfavourably with England

Professor John Robertson OBA From the UK Government’s Serious Violence Strategy report in 2018, the above table revealing the uniquely dramatic fall in homicide in Scotland, following the election of the SNP minority government in Scotland in 2007. Many will, correctly, point out that such change will be due to more than one factor [see below] but had this happened under a Conservative and/or Labour Government in Scotland, they’d claim credit, or had homicide surged under the SNP, they’d be blamed for it. Even more dramatic, see below, robbery halved. Other factors? There is some evidence that improving health services can help … Continue reading Homicide reduced by a third and robbery more than halved in first years of SNP rule

Professor John Robertson OBA The Guardian above, painting a very Scottish initiative as belonging to the UK. UK Conservative governments have long refused, since at least 2019, requests from the SNP Government in Scotland, for permission to even pilot a safe drug consumption room. In 2021, long after the first calls were made, the Scottish Government published an evidence paper1 which made the strongest of cases for such facilities but still permission was refused. Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer in 2023, made it clear he agreed and that he did not wish to see any changes in drug laws, if elected in … Continue reading Safe drug consumption – handing the fruits of the SNP’s long efforts to Labour and hiding Glasgow and Scotland’s achievements