Someone’s Freedom of Information request disappoints as NHS staffing climbs steadily under the SNP.
In a Freedom of Information (FoI) request made on 1st December 2018 and responded to on 27th December 2018, one of BBC Scotland (see below for their track record on this), or the ‘Scottish Press’ or Labour or Conservatives or Lib Dems (SCALPEL*), I’m guessing, asked for:
‘The total number and full/part-time breakdown of NHS Scotland staff, qualified doctors, qualified nurses and GPs; currently and ten years ago.’
https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-18-03583/
*Scottish Labour and Conservative Parties Especially Libdems
You can hear their whiney wee nasal voices – ‘aww nooooh, its rubbish!’ – when they saw the table above
Everything’s up: the total staffing, the number of qualified doctors, nurses and midwifes. Qualified doctor numbers are up a whopping almost 20% in only ten years of SNP control of the NHS.
I’m grateful to SteveB, who clearly lives among the girders, for his suggestion and help regarding the use of FoI request responses.
I plan to use these as a relatively labour-free way to get ideas and content for the blog. Just think? Wee SCALPEL gremlins do all the work and TuS gets the free content meant for NoMedia.
Note: I’m using the BBC Reporting Scotland Editorial Guidelines for the use of descriptive adjectives such as ‘whopping’, and the use of ‘almost’ in rounding-up.
BBC Scotland, FoI and the SNP Government
In December 2016, I wrote:
‘According to the Scottish Information Commissioner’s (SIC) records, in the last three years (2005 to mid 2007), of the Labour/Lib-Dem coalition, BBC Scotland made only three FoI requests of Scottish Government departments. It would have been surprising if they had made more because a public service provider depends on government for its funding and so is unlikely to try to expose any flaws in any of its departments. Don’t bite the hand as they say. Again, according to the Scottish Information Commissioner’s records In the last three years of the SNP government (2014 to 29 November 2016), they made twenty-six! The SIC does not receive all the requests made and does not know of any made directly by the BBC to local governments or health boards. According to the Scottish Government’s Strategy and Constitution Directorate, BBC Scotland has made a total of 160 FoI requests since January 2008!’
Talking-up Scotland 