Talking-up Scotland

In the Guardian yesterday:

‘The NHS [England] is on course for its worst annual cancer waiting statistics on record, official figures suggest. In eight out of nine published cancer targets, between April and September, the health service treated the lowest or joint lowest percentage of patients since operation standards were introduced, according to official figures published on Thursday. They show that with half of the year gone, 133,843 cancer patients have not been treated within the relevant standards. The figure amounts to 77% of the number of patients treated outside the standard in the previous 12 months and is greater than the total in each of the first three years that all nine standards – introduced in 2012/13 – were in operation.’

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/nov/08/nhs-cancer-treatment-wait-statistics-2018-standards

Our Nomedia in Scotland has of course managed to cherry pick a few areas of concern here and has ignored the many success stories. See:

Cancer mortality rates fall 10% but Reporting Scotland ignore it

Only SNP Government has actual plans in place to reverse ‘abandonment’ of secondary breast cancer patients in UK. Researchers and reporters downplay or ignore this

95% of Scottish cancer patients treated within 31-day standard but NHS England in crisis

NHS Scotland significantly outperforms NHS England on cancer waiting times despite demand soaring: Herald fails to report properly again