Talking-up Scotland

I haven’t read the article in full. I don’t need to, having seen the headline and the sub. The thesis is clear – May, with later historical hindsight, may turn out to have been not so bad and, to make the point about judging too soon, the other way, MLK’s much-praised achievements are now being cast to dust because he seems to have been, based on FBI reports, a ‘sexual predator’ who may have watched a rape. Remember MLK was also a socialist at a time when the US establishment did anything it could to destroy them. He is not accused of actual rape and his sexual predation seems to be evidenced by having had 40 ‘affairs.’ I do not excuse his behaviour, all too typical of men in positions of power, but I really question any suggestion of moral equivalence with the crimes of this prime minister.

Goring may be thinking about this poor woman being accused of incompetence and I agree that there is no need to judge her on that but let me remind you:

 

Theresa May IS (not just accused of) responsible for multiple deaths and mass suffering. Her government’s policies have made the Saudi slaughter of Yemeni innocents possible. Her husband is a direct financial beneficiary of the weapons sales in the conflict and she shares in his wealth. Her conscious policies at the Home Office led to the appalling treatment and deep suffering of hundreds of British citizens from the West Indies and of thousands of refugees, from her a Nazi-style ‘Hostile Environment’ campaign. She also ruthlessly cut the size of the police force in England & Wales and this has played a part in the many deaths from stabbings and from terror attacks since. She is the leader of an ideological movement to punish the poor and the disabled with an austerity programme which has caused multiple suicides and widespread suffering.

I could go on. Judge her? Damn her to hell! The same goes for Hilary Clinton and before you accuse me of misogyny of some form, it goes to Tony Blair, David Cameron, Barack Obama, George Bush……

 

(c) nameberry.com

As the MSM glory in waiting time targets missed, we never hear of the IVF service in Scotland beating its target year after year, despite the wider benefits for all of us, beyond the satisfaction of the natural desires of the hundreds of successful patients and their families. An IVF service which has been 100% successful for 5 years in a row will have had immeasurable benefits reducing both the human and financial costs of infertility. More on this below.

From ISD today:

During the quarter ending March 2019:

• The four IVF centres in Scotland screened 366 eligible patients, compared with 385 in the previous quarter.
• In all four centres, 100% of patients were screened for IVF treatment within 365 days, 75.7% of which were screened within 182 days.
• The 90% standard continues to be met since it was first measured in March 2015.

 

Why does this matter so much? See this:

Reducing associated mental health complications

 

Failing to treat infertility can result in problems and further costs for the NHS in other areas. A Danish study of 98 737 women, between 1973 and 2003, showed that women who were unable to have children were 47% more likely to be hospitalised for schizophrenia and had a significantly higher risk of subsequent drug and alcohol abuse.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22020-infertility-may-increase-risk-of-mental-disorders/

 

Meanwhile in Tory-run NHS England, only 12% of boards offer three full cycles in line with official guidance. 61% offer only one cycle of treatment and 4% offer none at all.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/ivf-nhs-treatment-fertility-lists-wait-patients-lottery-budget-cuts-a8028116.html

 

A warning for Scotland’s 100% IVF post-Brexit: How moneygrubbing Tory IVF policies are creating massive distress now in England

 

How IVF became a licence to print money.

 

As we tumble toward a hard Brexit and trade deals with the USA allowing the private sector into the heart of the NHS, we can see how things will work out in the already privatised IVF service in England and contrast it with the state-controlled and regulated version, in Scotland. See this from the Guardian:

 

‘Private fertility clinics routinely try to sell desperate patients add-ons that almost certainly don’t help – why isn’t more done to monitor the industry?  Around three-quarters of all IVF cycles fail. And results vary with age. Figures from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) published in March state the average live birth-rate for each fresh embryo transferred for women of all ages is 21%; for those aged under 35, it is 29% – the highest it has ever been. For older women, the picture is bleaker: 10% for women aged 40-42, for example. IVF is expensive. And what makes it worse, says Hugh Risebrow, the report’s author, is the lack of pricing transparency. “The headline prices quoted may be, say, £3,500, but you end up with a bill of £7,000,” he says. “This is because there are things not included that you need – and then things that are offered but are not evidence-based.”’

 

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/jun/18/how-ivf-became-a-licence-to-print-money

 

Creating opportunities for the private sector

 

In Tory-run NHS England, only 12% of boards offer three full cycles in line with official guidance. 61% offer only one cycle of treatment and 4% offer none at all. Private treatment costs between £1 343 and £5 788 per cycle.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/ivf-nhs-treatment-fertility-lists-wait-patients-lottery-budget-cuts-a8028116.html

 

Why UK politicians would like more privatisation in the NHS

There are 64 Tory and Labour (New) MPs with ‘links’ to private health care. Why would we trust them to protect the NHS? See this:

https://defendournhsyork.wordpress.com/2017/02/14/selling-off-nhs-for-profit-full-list-of-mps-with-links-to-private-healthcare-firms/

 

As I wrote the last post on the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) giving direct credit to Scottish Government initiatives in reducing deaths and serious injuries, the memory of Reporting Scotland’s 06;28 am insert into breakfast TV, with two out of 4 stories being just Tory propaganda about Nicola’s Indyref2 obsession (not the 2 million Yes supporters of course), and SNP softness on crime, I remembered three other example of NO credit where credit was due:

1. Sound Finances

When reporting negatively, the Scottish Auditor General doesn’t hold back so this praise is worth remarking upon. She:

• said the Scottish Government produced a sound financial report for 2016/17 and managed its budget effectively;
• highlights the Scottish Government’s good record of financial management and reporting;
• said her independent audit opinion on the 2016/17 accounts is unqualified.
• Said the Scottish Government managed its overall 2016/17 budget of £33.96 billion well, reporting a small underspend of £85 million.

Noting some of these words that I’ve emboldened, this is a glowing report for a government that clearly knows what it’s doing. Who in the Labour or Tory cohorts do you imagine could match this competence? Go through the faces and see if you can keep a straight one yourself.

http://www.audit-scotland.gov.uk/uploads/docs/report/2017/s22_170928_scottish_gov_pr.pdf

2. Reducing obesity

Based on research led by Laura Webber of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, reported in the Independent on 26^th May 2018:

‘Under current trends it is predicted that 11 per cent of the population in Wales will be morbidly obese in 2035, roughly 340,000 adults, while Scotland is likely to plateau at about 5 per cent and England will rise to about 8 per cent.’

The researchers offer a surprisingly clear, confident and simple explanation for the significantly slower growth in Scotland – Scottish Government policy initiatives and resource allocation:

‘The government put a massive push on developing a route map for how we can actually combat this. They put together resources from the NHS that were proving to be effective. They did put a lot of work into it.’

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/morbid-obesity-double-britain-poverty-education-employment-study-a8369731.html

3. Managing NHS Scotland

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. There is much for the other countries of the UK to learn from this…Scotland has a longer history of drives towards making different parts of the health and social care system work together. It has used legislation to get these efforts underway while recognising that ultimately local relationships are the deciding factor. There is much for England and Wales to learn from this.

The above statements positively glow with praise for NHS Scotland. It’s an A plus plus!

Research Report, July 2017, Learning from Scotland’s NHS at: https://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/files/2017-07/learning-from-scotland-s-nhs-final.pdf

 

 

 

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) has given direct credit to Scottish Government initiatives in reducing deaths and serious injuries. Sounds like a big news story. Let me know if you see it mainstreamed.

From motor1.com on 27^th May 2019:

‘England should take a leaf out of Scotland’s book and set road safety targets, a leading charity has said. The number of deaths and serious injuries on Scottish roads has fallen to its lowest level since records began, with the number of accidents down 57 percent between 1995 and 2017. Some 146 people were killed on the roads of Scotland in 2017 – down 24 percent on 2016 and less than half the number killed in 2006. Child casualties, meanwhile, fell by more than half between 2007 and 2017, while pedestrian casualties almost halved between 2006 and 2016. The number of people killed on motorcycles also fell by just under 50 percent over the same period, and there were reductions in the number of people killed in cars and on bicycles. According to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), at least some of this success can be attributed to the Scottish government’s ambitious road safety targets, which included a 40-percent drop in fatalities between 2008 and 2020. The organisation says the targets brought about greater focus on casualty reduction, as well as a joined-up approach to meeting the aims. The organisation says the adoption of such targets – and a similar approach to achieving them – would help England and Wales improve the “stagnation” in casualty reductions seen nationwide. Across Great Britain, casualties have declined rapidly since the 1960s, but recent years have seen the figures flatten out at a little under 2,000 a year. In 2017, there were 1,793 fatalities on UK roads in 2017 – up one on 2016’s total of 1,792 and around 100 fewer than in 2011.’

https://uk.motor1.com/news/351426/england-wales-scottish-road-safety-targets/

Here is Reporting Scotland’s preferred approach to falling deaths and injuries:

More on the policies:

As deaths on the roads plummet, SNP speed cameras reduce dangerous driving again

Child deaths on the road fall 61% to lowest level ever

 

What is the National playing at? They have previous in rank-breaking on health and education matters. I suppose like their hosting of McKenna, Fry and McWhirter, this will be professional balanced journalism?

Anyhow, it’s more of the MSM and Labour-friendly trades unions colluding to try to undermine the Scottish Government with ‘evidence’ from a useless self-selecting, teeny sample, study from their disgruntled (only) members having been asked loaded questions. They claim:

‘Research by the union Unison found ambulance staff are over-worked and highly stressed, with many thinking of leaving the service. Many workers have experienced violence and abuse, with six in ten saying they have suffered physical and/or verbal abuse at work, and 75 per cent of women saying they have experienced it. Almost all (98 per cent) paramedics have experienced violence and/or abuse while working while 40 per cent of patient transport staff have suffered it. The union warned a lack of staff and resources is putting patients’ health and, in some cases, lives at risk, and is also having an impact on the health and wellbeing of ambulance staff.’

I’m not of course minimising the experience of individual paramedics. I’m questioning the extent to which such experiences are common or increasing toward some kind of crisis situation.

Here’s some real evidence that paints a different picture:

1. Attacks on emergency workers fall by 35%

https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-201900000819/

Total down from 292 in 2013/14 to 190 in 2017/18.

2. New ambulance response system saves lives:

‘Hundreds of lives have been saved by a new ambulance response system which prioritises life-threatening calls, a study has found. The Scottish Ambulance Service changed the way it responds to the most unwell patients in 2016. Incidents such as cardiac arrests are now given the highest priority by call handlers. An evaluation of the changes has concluded the system has saved the equivalent of 1,182 lives. Under the new system, call handlers are taking longer on the phone to despatch paramedics and some lower priority calls are waiting longer for an ambulance, the review concludes. But both the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) and researchers at the University of Stirling have concluded the new approach is saving lives.’

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-47276161

3. Response time targets beaten:

http://www.scottishambulance.com/userfiles/file/TheService/201903_At%20A%20Glance%202019_04.pdf

4. Increased staffing, low turnover and vacancies at one-third rate of NHS England:

There were 1,468.5 WTE paramedics in post, 5.6% (77.7 WTE) higher than recorded at the same census a year ago. The WTE of vacant paramedic posts was 45.1, a vacancy rate of 3.0% compared to 1.8% a year ago. Half of these posts had been vacant 3 months or more at the census point.

https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2018-12-04/2018-12-04-Workforce-Summary.pdf?42817324400

Across England, ambulance services reported that 1,382 of 15,887 posts were vacant – a rate of 9%.^[

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_medical_services_in_the_United_Kingdom

 

Guardian 6^th February 2019

 In the last 20 years the number of over 75s has gone up by 31% and the number of over 65s by 28%. The impact on the demand for care can only be dramatic. This context does not appear in media reports.

The Age Concern Scotland ‘research’ reported today by nearly all of Scotland’s NoMedia and of course much loved by the Tory press in England headlines ‘waiting too long’ and ‘increasing waits’ but is seriously flawed. You won’t be surprised to hear that. Age Concern is a worthy campaigning group but not a reliable independent research centre.

I cannot access the original report so must use the media coverage. It was presumably sent directly to the MSM with a handy summary to use as the coverage. The flaws are nevertheless visible. From AOL’s slightly more revealing report:

‘The charity said more than 6,000 older people (43%) across the 14 local authorities who responded to its Freedom of Information request waited more than six weeks for the services they required. The average time to receive an assessment to determine social care needs was three weeks across Scotland but was higher in the Western Isles, Dundee, East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Edinburgh, Falkirk, Midlothian, Moray and Perth and Kinross. Previous research conducted by Age Scotland found that in 2015 the average waiting time was two-and-a-half weeks. Those local authorities who provided reasons for delays cited service pressures such as increased demand and limited resources.’

First, there are 32 local authorities in Scotland so only 44% responded. On its own, this undermines any conclusions and they must be presented as qualified by that. They are not, of course, and we get unsustainable phrases like ‘Older people waiting too long for care’

Second, only 43% of those represented in the sample had waited more than six weeks. So, only around a quarter of the total population might be waiting for more than six weeks.

Third, these returns were made by staff working for local authorities run by political parties and not by independent researchers. The reporting does not tell us how many of the 14 local authorities are run by Labour or Conservative administrations.

Fourth, even if we accepted the research at face value, it’s main finding would be that average waiting times may have gone up from 2.5 weeks to 3 weeks.

https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files//statistics/population-estimates/mid-18/mid-year-pop-est-18-pub.pdf

Finally, if we again accept the Age Concern findings, where is the essential contextual background – change in demand? You can see in the graph above that even if there is a lengthening of the wait for care packages of 20% (from 2.5 to 3 weeks) this has been against a background of 20 years of increasing demand.

Without consideration of context, proper transparent methods and responsible wording of conclusions to take account of limitations, this research and, even more so the media coverage, are worthless.

And, for more context:

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Energy Voice yesterday:

‘The multi-billion Moray East Offshore Wind Farm project will kick into life almost a year ahead of schedule from its operations and maintenance centre at Fraserburgh Harbour. It is hoped that it will bring a significant jobs boost for the area. The Moray Firth wind developers also revealed earlier this year that the wind farm will be able to “meet the needs of 40% of Scotland’s households”. Moray East Offshore Wind Farm added that it will also generate power at almost two-thirds less than the cost of current UK wind farms. The development is expected to power more than 950,00 homes. It was originally expected to begin construction work in 2021.’

https://www.energyvoice.com/otherenergy/200121/mammoth-north-east-wind-farm-kicks-off-constructio/

Related reports:

Scotland’s wind energy smashes through 100% threshold but fails to bother BBC Scotland

Never mind those bloody windfarms, this one will bleeow yoh hice dine! From the WWF, yesterday: ‘Wind output in November broke through the 100% threshold for the first time, with 109% of total Scottish electricity demand being met from renewables,…

BBC Scotland have only murder on their minds as Scotland’s wind turbines produce enough power on one day to power three times more homes than we have!

Starting the day as I do with the BBC Scotland news insert at 06:26am, fuelled only by coffee, is a high-risk strategy. They had only murder on their minds. There were two killings, one which was decades ago, to start…

First UK wind turbine repair and recycling centre opens in Scotland

In Energy Voice yesterday: ‘Part of a quarter of a million investment, west coast firm Renewable Parts said it hopes the business will herald the “next phase in the industry’s development”…..The new £250,000 investment will see the firm…

Once more Scotland has the wind in its favour

In Energy Voice yesterday: ‘A new mammoth offshore wind project has applied for Marine Scotland consent off the north-east coast of Scotland. A joint partnership between SSE and Fluor, Seagreen Wind Energy will develop two large…

Sorted! Enough wind power for 87% of Scottish homes in August

From Energy Voice today:   ‘Wind turbines produced enough electricity to power nearly three million homes in Scotland last month, according to Weather Energy figures. The windy conditions led to a record August output, with turbines contributing enough energy…

 

(c) GETTY

This survey reported today show quite low and falling levels of empathy for those on benefits at UK level:

http://www.bsa.natcen.ac.uk/media/38977/bsa32_welfare.pdf

There is no breakdown to allow comparison of figures for Scotland and other parts of the UK but today’s poll by YouGov for the Citizens Advice Service in Scotland, though not directly comparable does suggest differences:

https://www.cas.org.uk/news/myth-busting-polling-shows-scots-believe-people-should-claim-what-they-are-entitled

The more than doubling of the UK figure to just over 50%, in 2014, agreeing that benefits for the unemployed are too high and that they discourage them from finding jobs, contrasts sharply with the mere 18% of Scots sharing a similar notion of reluctance to work and 77% agreeing with the reasonably contradictory argument that they work hard for too-low wages.

Here are some only of the many reports here on related matters:

Abuse of women and the disabled far higher in England than in Scotland

Less homicide, less knife crime, less domestic violence, safer cities and now much lower alcohol problems: should Scotland’s old stereotypes be sent south?

Racial hate crimes increase by 33% in England & Wales while falling by 10% in Scotland: Who says we’re not different?

Scottish Muslim students far less likely to report abuse or crime?

Terror de-radicalisation referral rate in Scotland less than one third per capita of that in England

Only in Scotland! ‘A review of small country’s approaches to public policy reform in response to economic, demographic and other pressures found that only in Scotland could this ‘golden thread’ be so clearly discerned’

Scientific evidence that Scots tend to be different from the other groups in rUK?

Who said Scots were not more left-wing than those in the rest of the UK?

With 1 in 4 living wage employers already in Scotland, the Scottish Government aims to make this a ‘Living Wage Nation’

8% of the UK population and 28% of living wage employers. More evidence that we are different enough to want to run the whole show?

80 000 lowest paid workers in NHS England still on poverty wages as NHS Scotland follows Scottish Government policy to pay a living wage to all public-sector employees

Scottish care workers to receive Living Wage for ‘sleepover’ hours while English care workers receive only the National Minimum Wage.