Based on recent BBC reports, I think we had hospital acquired infections ‘contributing’ to five deaths in January and February 2019. Were there more cases ignored? I can’t find any data on this. The health correspondents did seem to be in a feeding frenzy, so it seems unlikely there were more.
I wonder how does this compared globally? Are our hospitals relatively clean or dirty in this respect?
I found 2018 statistics for the USA, by far the biggest spender on health care, globally:
‘In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated roughly 1.7 million hospital-associated infections, from all types of microorganisms, including bacteria and fungi combined, cause or contribute to 99,000 deaths each year.’
HAI Data and Statistics | HAI | CDC”. http://www.cdc.gov. 2018-01-10. Retrieved 2018-01-13.
So, 1 700 000 HAIs linked to deaths in 2018 or, for comparative purposes with our two-month sample, 280 000 cases. So, 56 000 times as many cases. Population of USA at 327.16 million or 60.58 times the population. To get a fair per capita rate, divide the 56 000 by 60.58 and get 924.
Deaths linked to hospital-acquired infections 924 times more common per capita in USA than in Scotland.
As for England and Wales, I could only find these for 2006:
MRSA caused or was associated with 1 652 deaths, which occurred predominantly in older people and women.
C difficile caused or was associated with 6 480 deaths, which occurred predominantly in older people.
http://www.bandolier.org.uk/booth/Risk/HAI.html
Now I know that there will have been other deaths linked to HAIs in Scotland but the absence of them in our NoMedia coverage, even during a feeding frenzy, tells us something.
Talking-up Scotland 
As ever, there is a word to describe NoMedia behaviour in this whole sorry episode. That word is “EVIL”.
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On Channel 4 News last night they did a piece about plans by NHS England to change the basis of A&E targets, which have indicated that these are being missed by big amounts and are showing little sign of improvement, perhaps, even in decline. They are markedly worse than the best comparable data for NHS Scotland (although the way the figures are constructed mean they are not directly comparable).
The piece included an interview with a professor of Emergency Medicine, who explained why the current measures are unsuitable and what the proposed changes would entail. The interview was conducted in an informing way, seeking to explain to viewers why the changes are being considered. There was no accusation of ‘moving the goalposts’.
The change being proposed entailed a new system of prioritisation of cases, which would have the consequence that non life threatening cases would, on average, require longer waiting times. (I had thought that this was the purpose of triage, but, applying the principle of charity, I suspect that it is a sharpening of the triage criteria.) I can accept that line of argument if it has better outcomes for serious accidents and has no worse outcomes for non threatening cases. I would probably be grumpy and soor faced while waiting, but, at least I know someone more serious has a better chance of survival.
NHS Scotland made a similar change to ambulance call out procedures, with prioritisation for more serious conditions. Of course, BBC Scotland picked on response times for rural parts of Scotland, where even a helicopter service – and we should have one – would be unable to meet the target figure for Glasgow, Edinburgh and the heavily populated parts of Scotland.
Early indications from the new BBC Scotland station’s news programme, ‘The Nine’ indicate that its squad of different correspondents are presenting a more nuanced and informing approach. Reporting Scotland, of course continues the ‘Scotland is pure shite’ line, usually illustrated with a quote from Jenny Marra or a couple of fascist fraudsters … no apology, yet, for that faux pas, Ms Lisa Summers!
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You just reminded me Alasdair that I’d started to search the web on Air Ambulances after a previous articles (but then got distracted, and forgot, as you do), found interesting stuff,,,
Air ambulances
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_ambulances_in_the_United_Kingdom
“Emergency air ambulances are generally helicopter based, and used to respond to medical emergencies in support of local ambulance services. In England and Wales, all of these services are charitably funded, and operated under contract with a private provider.[1] The ambulance staff crewing these flights are generally seconded from the local NHS ambulance service. In Scotland, there is the only publicly funded air ambulance service, with the Scottish Ambulance Service operating two helicopters and two fixed wing aircraft in this role, alongside a single charity helicopter (EC135T2), operated by Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance.”
And:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Ambulance_Service#Air_wing
“The service has the only government-funded air ambulance service in the UK,[27] operated under contract by Gama Aviation. The fleet consists of two Airbus H145helicopters[28] (operated under sub-contract by Babcock Mission Critical Services Onshore Ltd.) and two Beechcraft B200C King Air fixed-wing aircraft, which provide emergency response and transfers of patients to and from remote areas of Scotland. In 2015/16, the air ambulance crews flew 3,849 missions. One helicopter and one King Air are based at a Gama Aviation facility at Glasgow Airport. The other operating bases are Inverness Airport(helicopter) and Aberdeen Airport (King Air).[29]”
Gama Aviation website:
https://www.gamaaviation.com/sectors/air-ambulance/
Video of one of their pilots:
Scottish ambulance service website:
http://www.scottishambulance.com/WhatWeDo/EMRS.aspx
https://www.emrsscotland.org/#
SCOTSTAR webpage – a nice wee video
http://www.scottishambulance.com/WhatWeDo/scotstar.aspx
The clinical response model:
https://scottishamb-newsroom.prgloo.com/facts-and-figures/new-clinical-response-model
“The model, informed by patient and staff feedback, is similar to those introduced in Wales and parts of England, but it is worth noting that our ambulance crews care for patients in some of the most remote parts of the UK. Even then, they reached 75% of patients in under 10 minutes and 96% within 20 minutes across the whole of Scotland in 2017, saving more lives year on year.”
The Scottish ambulance service has a live performance page – telling you how many calls they’ve taken today!:
http://www.scottishambulance.com/Performance/livefeed.aspx
They also publish all their responses to FoI requests, one of the last ones was from Murdo,,,
http://www.scottishambulance.com/TheService/foi.aspx
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