In the Guardian yesterday:

‘Ministers are warned that key targets including A&E treatment and cancer care must be scrapped because of underfunding. NHS [England] bosses have warned ministers they will have to tear up treatment waiting time guarantees and deny patients new drugs next year because they have given it too little money to do its job.’

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/nov/30/nhs-bosses-waiting-time-targets-abandoned-next-year

When you look at the graph above showing the crisis in NHS England A&E, their decision becomes understandable. However, there’s more to it than lack of money given the continuing quality of NHS Scotland. Look at the graph below for A&E Scotland:

Equally under pressure of funding, NHS Scotland have benefitted from good, respectful, consultative, non-gimmicky, governance, from the SNP. See:

‘Scotland has a unique system of improving the quality of health care’ says the Nuffield Trust: Looking at the full report and not the Labour/BBC Scotland extracts in July

NHS Scotland spending on private healthcare falls year-on-year to a five year low as NHS England spending on private health care rockets by 33% to 100 times the Scottish figure! Mind you, 68 English MPs have personal income from private health companies

New Scottish GP contract rated far superior, by BMA, to English equivalent as Scottish GP numbers hold steady and NHS England loses 1 000 in one year!

Despite massive increases in demand, NHS Scotland maintains performance levels extremely close to the most rigorous of targets and patient satisfaction is at an all-time high. Audit Scotland say: ‘There were no significant weaknesses in the overall quality of care being provided.’

To quote the first reference above:

‘Scotland has a unique system of improving the quality of health care. It

focuses on engaging the altruistic professional motivations of frontline staff

to do better, and building their skills to improve. Success is defined based

on specific measurements of safety and effectiveness that make sense

to clinicians.’