Dickie’s Taffy Puddings
Perhaps the single most striking feature of everyday non-constitutional Scottish politics is Labour’s constantly-recurring habit of highlighting some supposedly unsatisfactory statistic about the Scottish Government’s performance, only for it to be revealed that it’s vastly better than the comparable figure for Wales, where Labour has been in power ever since the Assembly was created in 1999.
So let’s crank up the machine again and see what it says, shall we?
Cancelled-operation stats are recorded by ISD Scotland, and divided into categories according to the reason for cancellation (which include being cancelled by the patient, or for clinical reasons, eg the patient got better or a different treatment was chosen).
The non-clinical cancellations, which are what Richard Leonard’s tweet refers to, for the last two years (typically out of a number of scheduled operations somewhere between 25,000 and 30,000 a month) were these:
July 2018: 540
June 2018: 403
May 2018: 489
April 2018: 587
March 2018: 1,201
February 2018: 711
January 2018: 1,249
December 2017: 778
November 2017: 664
October 2017: 557
September 2017: 560
August 2017: 523
July 2017: 404
June 2017: 476
May 2017: 512
April 2017: 490
March 2017: 620
February 2017: 586
January 2017: 704
December 2016: 644
November 2016: 665
October 2016: 614
September 2016: 618
August 2016: 662
TWO-YEAR TOTAL: 15,257
So generally speaking, there’s roughly a 1 in 50 chance that the hospital will cancel your operation because it’s over capacity or short-staffed (eg due to a major flu outbreak like last winter’s, which caused abnormally high cancellations in January and March). Not perfect, but we don’t mind those odds.
(Tory-run NHS England, by way of perspective on those numbers, cancelled 50,000 operations in January alone this year due to winter pressures, in addition to the usual typical figure of around 8,000 a month.)
But of course, our question is how has Labour-run Wales, with a population 40% lower than Scotland’s, been managing over a similar period of time?
And oh dear.
The number of non-clinical cancellations in Wales over the last two years is 75,000 – almost FIVE TIMES as many as Scotland despite a far smaller population. Per capita it’s more than EIGHT TIMES worse.
Scottish Labour – assisted as always by a relentless stream of doom-and-gloom stories in the Scottish media – love to draw attention to every tiny hiccup in Scotland’s public services, implying that if only we’d hand things over to them rather than the vile SNP they’d magically get better.
The evidence of Labour’s competence levels in the one UK nation where it IS in control suggests that the reality isn’t just the opposite of that, but the opposite on a truly gargantuan scale.
For so long as Welsh Labour exist, they’ll be a constant source of embarrassment to their Scottish cousins, and to anyone gullible enough to take their claims seriously.
Dissected with surgical precision.
‘Scottish’ Labour. The Norwegian Blue of Scottish politics.
“Scottish Labour”…
Does anyone know what they’re for? I don’t mean what they supposedly ‘stand for’, but what useful purpose they serve. Anyone?
Plus ca change …
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/aug/30/wales-number-of-people-waiting-more-than-a-year-for-surgery-up-400
(From last year.)
PS: Like Scotland, there is no ‘Welsh Labour’ – it is merely a Branch Office of the London grouping
PPS: The Minister responsible for Health is one of the candidates to become First Minister this December. I diagnose a case of brassus neckus.
Oh jings! Not entirely sure Mr Leonard got the memo on kinder, more honest, politics. 🙂
Rhoda Labours latest mouthpiece (she of the soft spoken variety with a knife in her hand) on radio scotland this morning claiming all the good bits in the snp programme for govt were labours, even the interviewer exasperated said ‘you were not the only ones bringing this up’ but that did not stop her. Then she goes on to damn her own labour party with the anti-semitism row in labour ranks.
You could not make it up – Leonard yesterday opening saying labour would support govt in sexual harassment case with Monica Lennon sitting behind him!!! We’ll support it so long as you are not investigating us!
The continual debunking and political analysis of information like this, which would never see the light of day or be highlighted by any media in Scotland or the UK, is why we pay you the big bucks.
19. (of 20.)
Onward Labour lemmings
Onward Labour lemmings,
Marching o’er the cliff,
With the mark of Leonard,
Leading them skew-whiff.
Dick, the chief of numpties,
Heads his band of woe;
Forward into hist’ry:
See those bampots go!
Chorus:
Onward Labour lemmings,
Marching o’er the cliff,
With the mark of Leonard,
Leading them skew-whiff.
__________
[With acknowledgements]
Songs for the New Politics
2013-2018
Statistics are fine, but break it down into reasons. Some people change their minds, so the appointment is cancelled. People get sick, sometimes being sick can have an influence on outcome. So the operation gets cancelled. Sometimes people die. Therefore the appointment gets cancelled.
There are so many reasons to cancelled an operation. Unless we have the reason for it being cancelled we will never know.
I think to blame the ruling party without proper facts is a failure in its self.
Too many times labour blames the Scottish government for something which is not devolved. Independence will fix all that. It’s also time the unionists stopped lying about Scotland’s revenue. Although we know they will not.
I wonder when I ‘clicked’ and started realising the dribbling dross and drool that Labour in Scotland produce.
Its actually pathetic, and I am embarrassed that I once voted for these idiots.
British Labour in Wales are as cretinous as British Labour in Scotland,
British Labour seem to attract and enlist people you wouldn`t leave alone with sharp scissors or if there was a plastic bag about you would cut holes in it just incase they somehow suffocated themselves,
and yet there are still people with brain cells that vote for these donkeys,(apologies to donkeys),
jeezo.
Whenever Small Dick Leonard gets up on his hind legs and opens his gob, I am reminded of one of the more-quotable thoughts of the late General Sir Anthony Cecil Hogmanay Metchett VC KCB DSO:
“If nothing else works, a total pig-headed unwillingness to look facts in the face will see us through.”
Perhaps that is who is guiding Labour policies these days. Mind you, in the end, Melchett was on the winning side – but, at a cost.
Although great fun mocking Labour-run Wales do they have the same options open to them that the Scottish government has.
Be interesting to see what areas in Scotland have highest number of cancellations. Recently saw article pointing out that some in England would have to wait over a week for a GP appointment, getting an appointment within a couple of weeks and you’re doing well in rural highlands.
Liebor speak with forked tongue.
Wales does get underfunded by Westminster. It’s proximity to London is an advantage. People can live in Wales and commute. Quite a way, The Westminster Tories just cancelled the Swansea Bay project. £1Billion+. They are wasting £Billions on Hinkley Point. Wales voted for Brexit but gets higher EU grants and funding because of areas of deprivation.
The defining moment for me after years of voting for those a****oles was the hiding of the Mcrone report.
It falls into the news cycle that is reflected by the BBC, could be STV too but I never see their output. It is either health, education or policing, and goes in a fairly consistent cycle.
Those that have no direct contact with these services will naturally assume they are deteriorating badly, you can always find someone to give you the quote you want.
The bad news is they are effectively rubbishing the people who work in these services. Maybe it’s the intention, demoralise them, that usually affects performance.
Unfortunately for the three other parties they have nothing to offer but rhetoric, any examination of the areas they run doesn’t look good for them (I include the LibDems as they were the enablers of the current NHS situation in England).
Dickies Taffy Puddings
🙂
One of your best thread titles.
Bet the DeadTree Scrolls wish they had journalists as witty and forensic as yourself Rev. (maybe their sales wouldn’t be tanking so they have to rely on Politicaly motivated handouts of taxpayers money from the BBC in the guise of funding ‘Local Democracy Reporters’.
Mair Power tae yer elbow, Sir.
The elected are supposed to represent the people who put them in position. The driver should be looking after those you have been elected to serve ( it doesn’t matter if they voted for you or not).
However in Scotland we have Unionist Parties at Holyrood who have one objective – to undermine the Party in power.
The Union is more important than the people.
The Union is more important than a fair society.
Look at their behaviour. Listen to their twisted claims. Witness their support for WMD etc etc
I do and I am baffled as to why anyone continues to vote for Labour, Tory or LibDem.
People need to ask themselves – Do you really believe that we are too poor, stupid and too wee to build a better nation in comparison to what we have while under the control of another country?
One thing I am certain of – Labour is not the solution. I have witnessed the feeble 50MPs that did nothing for Scotland.
The HoLs is full of Scottish Labour troughers who put their lifestyle above those who elected them.
David r 9.52am. Down here in east dorset i wait 2 to 3 weeks for a gp appointment.
Dissection of the mortuary SLab.
That’s it Labour. Keep it up. Keep trying to smear Scotland and anything connected with Independence. Keep telling us how shite we are and how great you have been over your tenure of unionist incompetence and maladministration. We all know now that you are nothing more than another unionist con party. Roll on Indyref2.
regarding the waiting times for a GP’s appointment. If I phoned my GP’s office and asked to see a particular doctor at a particular time I could wait up to 2 weeks. However my GP’s surgery holds 50% of appointments open for same day appointments and I can phone or book online a same day appointment from 8am. Maybe these surgeries could do the same.
X_Sticks says:
‘Scottish’ Labour. The Norwegian Blue of Scottish politics.
Rather more ‘blue’ than Norwegian though.
…but definitely ready to join the choir invisibule.
Oh Dear.
The Unionist parties really don’t like to do ‘Compare and Contrast’ when they try to talk down the Scottish NHS, or anything else for that matter.
Oh, and it’s high time the Scottish NHS was renamed to SHS to emphasise that it is indeed different from the English NHS.
How dare we ask to highlight their failings either in Labour run Wales or Tory run England when fairly comparing like for like.
Cancellations can be good news. Back in the ’90s I had a joint fusion operation on my hands. The right was done with only a 3 month wait, good for back then. 6 months later with that hand well healed I had heard nothing about the left hand. Then I got a phone call on a Friday, could I come in and have it done the following Tuesday? Someone had cancelled and they had a slot. I consulted the boss and said ‘yes please’.
But your analysis of the stats is very good and very damning. The Scottish NHS is the best and most efficiently run NHS in these septic isles. Ironically that is partly due to a Labour Holyrood health secretary Malcolm Chisholm who abolished the internal market in the SNHS. Malcolm is of course one of the good ones and a Yes supporter.
Labour in both Scotland and Wales were about managing expectations amongst the working class and the dispossessed. It is easier to take ‘there is little hope’ from ‘one of your own’ than from a patrician Tory so that is Labour’s role.
Wales’s constitutional position as a heavily conquered possession has coloured how it is managed, by both the Left and the Right. There is also a much stronger Stockholm Syndrome in Wales than amongst our Proud Scot Buts. The Welsh have also been much more heavily Settled by the English than Scotland has. They are now a minority in their own lands. There are Kippers in their parliament lead by Neil Hamilton.
Imagine having to deal with him in the chamber. He would try Nicola’s famous sang froid.
Wales also got a much worse Devolution settlement and unlike Scotland is subsidised by the SE. NHS spend per head figures hide a lot of difference. Can you imagine the PFI debt burden on the SNHS if SLAB had been in charge since 2007?
Oh dear is i guess the only way to nicely portrait labours epic screw up in the one place they have power if Corbyn bring the NHS up mays gona bring up NHS Wales as usual and dicky here’s gona get something similar tomorrow at fmqs if he goes on the NHS which I think he’s most likely to.
O/T
Never have nor ever will watch any Reality TV shows but I understand that some actress called Roxanne has been involved in some minor stushie on one of said shows.
Judging from the volume of hysterical media coverage attacking the poor soul it would appear that said media are determined to destroy her and will not stop until she is driven to suicide.
What a shower of bastards are those who run our media.
This is great stuff.
Surely it would also be great ammo for Plaid Cymru to use in their fight against the Red Tories’ Branch Office in Wales. A great example of how poorly Labour is doing compared to an SNP equivalent. Are the welsh public aware of how crap Labour are? Show them how it could be done.
If you have Plaid Cymru contacts, folks – get these comparisons to them. There’s a lot of ammo they could use to rip the red tory government in Wales. 🙂
For the Losers:
Any head office of a company losing money normally sheds the loss making part of it’s business
In the case of Scottish politics Labour Tory and Lib Dems are loss making branches so it’s no wonder the politicians who work for those loss making branches are the strongest opponents of Independence because they’d have no head office to keep employing them and pay their wages and they’re too incompetent and lazy to build their own base like the SNP did
If these parties had any brains between them they might realise that with Independence they might attract better talent to their parties thus improving the quality of performance but then again that would mean that most of the current crop of politicians within those parties would lose their jobs
If you’re a supporter of these loser parties original principles surely you’d want to improve their chances by improving the work force on your behalf but without Independence you’ll always be stuck with the same losers over and over again scrabbling around protecting their own jobs by supporting the status quo
So actually Independence for Scotland would be a good thing for Labour Tory and Lib Dem principles, not a bad thing
Make your own parties stand on their own feet, if the SNP can do it why can’t you, what’s wrong with you people?
SNHS I received a appointment for the 14/9 for eye examination for removal of cataract R/Eye at the Jubilee Hosp ,yesterday I received a appointment for the same at Hairmyers for the 12/9 SNHS not only working but in duplicate.
We bitty confusion but I done myself oot of a nights stay at the Jubilee hotel ( they got me mixed up wie somebody fae Aberdeen , all will be sorted out today .
Leonards not only Dick by name but a Dick by nature .
Unfortunately the gullible believe all the lies because they hear it on the bbc or they read it in their daily rag.
Britnat Labour are in the bed nobody wants closest to the nurse’s station, kept alive only by the creaking, old iron lung that is our MSM.
Screens, nurse, please…
Bobp says:
5 September, 2018 at 9:57 am
Same. Discovering McCrone was the point I woke up and realised the UK government did not work in Scotland’s interest. The report was seen by both Labour and Tory ministers and told the government that an independent Scotland would be:
So what did they do? They told Scots we’d be poor and fail without UK help. Scots fell for it. Plenty are falling for it still. If you haven’t read the McCrone report, *please do*.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/brettarends/2014/09/12/scottish-independence-englands-shameful-secret/
http://www.oilofscotland.org/mccrone_oil_reports.html
Muscleguy @ 10:21 a.m.
Agree with much of what you say – we need to educate our people more and hopefully open their eyes in the same ways that you in Scotland seem to be doing so successfully.
I would however point out the fallacies in this sentence:
“There are Kippers in their parliament lead by Neil Hamilton.”
– We have yet to have a Parliament, although the name change from National Assembly is on its way (as are votes for 16 and 17 year olds.
– Neil Hamilton is no longer Leader of the Kippers at the National Assembly, having been putsched, and a subsequent election being held for Leader.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UKIP_Wales_leadership_election,_2018
________
Luigi @ 10.26 a.m.
If you have Plaid Cymru contacts, folks – get these comparisons to them. There’s a lot of ammo they could use to rip the red tory government in Wales. ?
—-
Better yet, Luigi and friends. JOIN Plaid Cymru and be a Member of both National Parties of Scotland AND Wales. I have been so since 2011 and there is nothing against this – they do NOT compete for votes against each other and their MPs and other politicians often work together. (Nor do you have to speak Cymraeg/Welsh to join Plaid.)
Join soon and be able to vote in the Leadership election, to see if Leanne will retain her job.
https://www.join.partyof.wales/
Why is Jackie Brambles on Radio Scotland in the Call Kaye slot when she could be presenting from Radio 1,2,3,4,5 from south of the border.
We need broadcast job opportunities here and I wonder if there is a shortage of Scottish broadcast media presenters?
Perhaps Jackie lives in Scotland in which case my point is answered.
davidr,
Nonsense!
I live in very rural highlands. I could get a non-urgent appointment this week. Never had to wait longer than the following day.
Hi Bobp,
Never mind McCrone they have a new lie let me explain. The Shetland Islands have for centuries been used as the dividing line between the North Atlantic and the North Sea, agreed. Now it’s currently acknowledged that there are over 50 billion barrels of recoverable oil/gas in the Scottish sector of North Sea, Economic Zone (EZ). Recent huge finds West of Shetland, including Clair Ridge (Remember this was the field where just before the Referendum in 2014 the drillers were sent home to America with their pockets stuffed with money and their mouths welded shut and Cameron sneaked into Shetland then denied the existence of the field and adjacent fields) have been announced to the media as in the North Sea. They are NOT in the North Sea they are 50 miles WEST of SHETLAND in what is known as the ‘ATLANTIC MARGIN’. This is part of a sweep of Oil/Gas bearing rocks which extend from north of Greenland, west down the the Hebrides (Including West of Shetland and Clyde and Solway estuaries), west of Ireland through Bay of Biscay and on down the West African coast. If we just concentrate on the Scottish EZ then there are more oil/gas reserves in the Atlantic Margin than the WHOLE of the North combined, (England, Holland, Germany, Denmark and Norway).
So, Bobp or anybody for that matter wants more info please feel free to contact me at my email: asterix.at.valhalla@gmail.com and I will try to answer any questions.
Finally there is a ‘basin West of Lewis’ which is reckoned to hold more oil than the whole of Saudi Arabia, ask the Tories about that one and why you’re not being told about it.
I Can be the Power
That decides my fate
Or sit on my Erse
And Quietly wait
For all the rest
To fight my Fight
And just not care
For what is right
But that’s not me
And it aint you
You know the things
That we must do
We Fight for Freedom
And justice too
Equality for all
And not the Few
This rag tag Union
Is a Dying place
A Blight on Humanity
A Sheer Disgrace
So up and at em
My trusty Friend
We fight For Freedom
To the Bitter End
Bill Glen .
A decade of failure
This just sums up the sour,mindless resentment that the red tories stew in.
I have a few preferences for a Scottish government:
1.be independent*
2. Control and utilise your own currency effectively
3. Manage and nurture the bounty nature has given us
4. Have a voluntary Job guarantee
*2-4 rely on 1
I live in the rural Highlands. I can see a GP five days of the week just by turning up at the surgery, no appointment required.
David R says:
‘…..getting an [GP] appointment within a couple of weeks and you’re doing well in rural highlands.’
There’s a place about 6 miles from Edinburgh, where you now routinely have to wait three weeks…….
Richard leonard is gonna need an operation to get you bott out of his ass… I wonder if he will chose a red tory run Nhs hospital or not
PROPAGANDA TERRORIST GROUP IN SCOTLAND
Here in Scotland, the three pro-Union British Nationalist parties, British Labour, British Conservative and British LibDems, acting as an Alliance Against Scotland, have little, if any interest in Scottish politics as a means of promoting and enabling the people of Scotland to develop.
Lead by Rennie, Leonard and Davidson, they are instead nothing less than Anti-Scotland Propaganda Terrorists. That is what they are because every day that is what they do. Each day without fail, through lies and smears they attack some part of Scotland’s vital infrastructure with the intention to damage, disable or destroy.
Supporting, promoting and protecting these Propaganda Terrorists is 99% of the entire media industry in Scotland, led by the wholly discredited British Brainwashing Corporation whose Director is Donalda MacKinnon.
Donalda is the Osama Bin Laden of propaganda terrorism in Scotland. Rarely seen in public, almost never appears on TV or in the Press, yet masterminds the daily assaults on Scotland’s vital and most valuable public service resources.
MacKinnon and her fundamentalist organisation are funded directly from outside Scotland through the British Government at Westminster. All done in secret where everyone can see it. Terrorism on TV, in the Press, all over Scotland.
What did you do in the Propaganda War, Daddy?
Labour’s ambitions for Scotland:
1.Tax people more to mitigate Tory austerity and Brexit policies they did not oppose at Westminster.
Eh! That’s it, sorry.
They seem a bit like the LibDem’s under Nick Clegg propping up the Tories, except few says ‘I agree with Jeremy’.
Who the fuck is Richard Leonard? Seriously, he is a nobody who got on the Branch Office List gravy train in 2016.
He has the political experience of a wean just out of its nappies.
His meagre Wiki entry includes the following scant info on this Great Big Nobody.
“Leonard was born in 1962 in Yorkshire, England, UK. He was educated at the fee-paying independent school Pocklington School, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, having received an LEA scholarship.
He studied Politics and Economics at the University of Stirling. (Ed. Did he graduate?) Since leaving university, Leonard has lived in Scotland and has become heavily involved in trade-unions, along with many of his Labour Party colleagues.”
And that’s it.
A Sun article states that he worked as an ‘Industrial Organiser’ for the GMB for 20 years.
What the fuck is an ‘industrial organiser? If he was good, why 20 years stuck in the same job?
He defeated Sarwar in a two way leadership fight.
He got ‘the Union’ vote.
So the Red Tory Branch Office reached into the dark abyss that is the bottom of their talent barrel and come up with this feckless inexperienced bag carrier because they have run out of patsies willing to lie to and threaten the people of Scotland.
Note that the previous leadership failures are all still there, trousering their £1200 a week plus add-ons, plus expenses.
Johann Lamont, Kezia Dugdale, Iain Gray, Anas Sarwar, even Jackie Baillie had a wee go at it.
How any young (ish) Socialist can campaign for, and vote for this disgusting bunch of chancers and has-beens/never-weres beats me.
They are out to destroy Scotland for the greater good of England, their masters and financial backers.
This man version of ‘leadership’ seems to be by text and standing in the streets handing out leaflets.
If I worked in the NHS, Schools, or Police, and were constantly slagged off by the Red, Blue, and Yellow Tories, then, why would I vote for them, or want to remain in their corrupt little Union?
They are not only poisonous incapable rabble rousers, they are the enemies of the People of Scotland.
I know many young Socialists read this incredible blog.
Well, come on and give me answers.
Why do you support such an obvious untalented bunch of chancers?
Richard Leonard is an embarrassment.
I am surprised Mr Leonard went with this topic because it is only a few short weeks ago that one of the other parties went big on this topic and got their fingers burned. On that occasion the figure for planned operations cancelled for non-clinical reasons – lack of staff etc. – was around 600 which compared to 480 or so in the same month in 2017 – I think it was April.
However, what the screaming headlines and articles did not say was that the total number of planned OPS for April 2018 was 10% HIGHER than the comparable month in 2017. The 600 or so OPS equated to 2.2% of the total planned OPS and the figure for April 2017 was 2% of planned OPS cancelled for non-clinical reasons.
So 10% increase in planned OPS but number cancelled for non-clinical reasons was 0.2% compared to the same month in 2017. Pretty damn good.
Every Tuesday ISD Scotland publish a whole raft of data covering various aspects of NHS Scotland. It is worth checking out on a Tuesday.
Here is the full summary of the July figures for planned OPS from which Mr Leonard took his figures presumably. Note cancellations due to non-clinical reasons usually run around 2% each month.
For July 2018
• The total number of planned operations across NHSScotland during July 2018 was 26,165, an increase of 3.9% from 25,188 during July 2017.
• 2,410 operations (9.2% of planned operations) were cancelled in July 2018, ranging from 4.5% to 16.2% across individual NHS Boards. This compares to 2,074 (8.2%) in July 2017.
• In July 2018, of all 26,165 planned operations: 978 (3.7%) of these were cancelled by the patient; 807 (3.1%) were cancelled by the hospital based on clinical reasons; 540 (2.1%) were cancelled by the hospital due to capacity or non-clinical reasons; 85 (0.3%) were cancelled due to other reasons.
• The peak in cancellations for non-clinical/capacity reasons in January 2018 (4.5%) was linked to increased emergency admissions causing additional demand for beds. The spikes in March 2018 for non-clinical/capacity reasons (4.1%) and other reasons (1.5%) were due to poor weather affecting patient and staff travel.
The raw numbers are more useful if they are converted to a percentage of the total OPS planned in a given month.
Come on, let’s go, it’s only at 100% which gives 800,000 leaflets for Kits For YES Groups, more is needed to get 1 million, and there’s ONLY hours to go, sob!
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/indy-kits-for-yes-groups#/
You would think that an organisation that size would be able to Wings proof stuff,unless of course,there is a tory agent working in the department concerned. You know,like a red tory or something 😐
The problem we have is a simple one
The unionists can out out all kind of pish secure in the knowledge that the media will not in anyway challenge any of it but will promote it relentlessly in a totally coordinated campaign.
We need a rapid response unit and an ability to widely distribute evidence of the lies and we probably need to target individual journalists to destroy any credibilty they may retain with the uninformed.
@Jack Collatin –
Well said.
One of the main features of FMQs now is to see the dread and fear on the faces of Labour MSPs as the PO invites Richard Leonard to ask his questions. Jenny Marra in particular looks as if the sheer tension is going to make her eyeballs pop out a la Casino.
No-one should feel any pity for RL or the seat-warmers behind him – they deserve nothing but scorn.
With a theatre and two surgeons / consultants taking a theatre for my wife for 3 hours for an emergency operation last November, and one of the surgeons after the internal bleeding had been stopped after an hour and a half, moving to another theatre which was being prepped for another less urgent emergency operation, I daresay there’s a fair chance one or two regular planned operations were cancelled for that happening.
Would Richard Leonard prefer that my wife had been left to die for the sake of his statistics? I expect my wife would also like to have a word in his shell-like.
Nice information
And by the way she probably blew another statistic, that of the 4 hour A&E target, as in Scotland it’s not until they’re admitted or discharged that the time is taken, and she was triaged and stabilised in two different hospitals with the transfer for way more than the 4 hours (probably about 10), so she would have been a “missed” 4 hour statistic.
Ignorant bastards.
Another great article Rev where the truth is made clear to one and all.
But I still wonder why the National can`t print and headline stories like this as it would make those gullible voters who are drip fed Unionist propaganda take notice.
Ian Brotherhood @ 12.24 pm
You mean Jenny ‘£300,000 NHS Tayside CEO Golden Parachute’ Marra?
You may recall that she was allowed free rein on BBC Distorting Scotland to spout this evil lie to their teatime audience of dog whistle 61 year old yoon diehards.
This is the crux of the matter.
The Red Blue and Yellow Tory Brit Nat Branch Office poodles come out with a diurnal torrent of SNP BAD lies, ommisions, distortions, and threats, and the slithy toves of our Dead Tree Scrolls and the Ministry of Truth at Propaganda Quay will give them a platform, uninterrupted, unchallenged, indeed encouraged, by dint of the fact that Donalda Mackinnon invites them on to ‘Minitrue’ (q.v., 1984) every day, to brainwash the people of Scotland into believing that we are a Third World Colony of the Mighty English Empire, and that we should be grateful that the English are there to protect us and bankroll our failure.
Leonard, Rennie, and davidson, are the enemies of the people of Scotland.
We are at war, a war of words and ideas.
I have no time for any of them, not even as a mild amusement these days.
They are virtual terrorists, out to destroy the Civic fabric of Scotland.
It is that serious.
So Richard Leonard is a Unionist and cares as much about the people of Wales as he does about the people in any other part of the UK, right?
So, I’m sure Richard will be willing to tell the Labour Party in Wales his secret, since he is claiming that under him, Labour would improve the health service in Scotland, right?
So let’s challenge Richard Leonard to tell the Welsh, what needs to be done to improve the health service.
Unless Richard isn’t a genuine Unionist like Kezia was found to be, and doesn’t really care about the people in other parts of the UK, like Jim Murphy and his London Tax, was found to be.
Nobody listens to Slab,nobody with an average IQ that is. Has Scottish politics always been like this? “Keep exaggerating and telling lies and we will gather the uninformed along the way”! Because I sure as hell cant recall it being so absolutely ridiculous and somewhat embarrassing. Do us all a real favour Slab and just do one,PLEASE!
There are many and varied reasons for cancelled operations, here are a few from my own experience. Had several ops cancelled, none were the fault of the NHS, one was called of because my bloods were wrong, too acidic therefore too dangerous. Another I cancelled myself as I had a bad cold, yet another couldn’t go ahead as the outsourced company that was then responsible for the supply of surgical equipment ie scalpels failed to ensure an adequate supply to hospitals in the Greater Glasgow area that day. A company that had bid on the contract and won during Lab administration. So sick of Lab and other doomsayers rubbishing the NHS in order to score cheap political points.
Brilliant Stuart and now I don’t feel so alone in calling tricky Dickie out.
He is easier than Jim Murphy and my he takes some beating.
Great Stuart thanks for calling him out.
I now don’t feel so alone in this task. He even beats Jim Murphy for pure gall.
In May I required an operation for a new knee. From my point of view the whole process was fast, efficient and effective. Within 3 weeks of seeing my own doctor about my knee, I had a consultation with the surgeon and was admitted to hospital 7 weeks later. My own operation went without a hitch, and in a few days I was sent home to continue my recovery there, under the supervision of my doctor, Distric Nurse and Physiotherapist.
While I was in hospital there were two incidents that made me think about cancellation numbers. The first was a major traffic accident close by, which resulted in a number of casualties being rushed in for emergency treatment, this of course resulted in a number of non emergency cancellations. Also while I was in Hospital another person was admitted for a replacement hip, but just prior to the operation it was discovered that he had a cut on his leg, which obviously necessitated the cancellation of his operation. So it would be interesting to see how many operations are cancelled due to events beyond the control of the NHS.
All labour politicians speak out of their waste expulsion pipes and it is pure unadulterated tollie
Leonard is a Unionist Red Tory placeman. No serious experienced politician would spout the tripe that he does.
I had an Op at the Jubilee I had to cancel due to having a bad cold. They will not use anaesthetics in that situation. They were excellent and changed me to just 4 weeks later. There are obviously a few clinical reasons why an Op must be cancelled or delayed. Non clinical must include a member of the team suddenly not being around for all of the normal reasons that can happen as in any job.
The amazing fact is that so few are cancelled and that’s got to be down to the excellent professionalism of the logistics planners and the superb staff.
Great pity other parties did not recognise this, and praise, rather than criticise them.
Comparisons are odious, but I wish Nicola would make more of them, comparing the performance of the Scottish Government over both Westminster’s and the other devolved assemblies.
She should start with: Would Ruth/Leonard/Willie like us to lower the standards in Scotland to those in the other parts of the union? And watch them shut their gegis.
Bobp says:
5 September, 2018 at 9:57 am
“The defining moment for me after years of voting for those a****oles was the hiding of the Mcrone report”
It was for me too. I felt sick and close to tears the day I read the report. I am still deeply troubled by the sections where it suggests what England can do to get a chunk of Scotland’s oil: the changing of the territorial sea boundaries (that Labour has already done, of course), they implementation of a “share” on the basis of population, taking advantage that England has 10 times the population of Scotland (which is being done already but they expect it to continue after independence), and the most troublesome for me: simply denying Scotland ownership of its own continental shelf! Clearly these people viewed Scotland as another England colony and were under the assumption that Westminster would always have the last word.
I think the move of Labour to change the territorial waters boundaries right before devolution is very telling. It is quite clear that these people understood at the time that the presence of a Parliament of Scotland would restrict Westminster freedom to continue ransacking Scotland.
I am afraid the day I read that report I stopped believing any single word that comes out of Labour, Tories and LibDems’ mouths and completely lost my trust in the Union. Now I only see it as a trap to continue taking advantage on Scotland. The reality of that report is that today Scotland could be one of the wealthiest nations in the world and these people simply denied us that priviledge and forced Scotland to continue draining most of its revenues towards England for over 40 years. I am not sure I will ever be able to forgive them for that.
It’s worse than that, Labour’s dead, Jim.
Just roughing the English figures out in my head ie for the population of England Vs Scotland and they seem to be MUCH worse than the Scottish figures.
Having seen the English NHS in action over the course of the last 20 years I can well believe it. Our health service is much better run. It’s not down to the individual healthcare workers but the years of mismanagement.
Most folk will have no comparison, but those who do, will know we are VERY fortunate here in Scotland…
David R
Have to say that living in a rural area that is, like many others, struggling to attract new GP’s to posts, I can still manage to get an appt next day easily, same day if necessary!
We even have a dispensing GP surgery which is fantastic.
Sometimes an op can be cancelled because the patient has other medical conditions or a high temperature last minute as in my case. It would have been recorded as a cancelled op.
Our Scottish NHS services will be sold off to the lowest bidder should any Britnat party ever get their scheming hands on power at Holyrood again. They follow orders from their London masters, look at what the UK Tories did to Royal Mail, and so many other nationalised services over the years, all aided and abetted by UK Labour.
Labour branch in Scotland privatised the non domestic arm of Scottish water, they would do same to the domestic side if they could without a moments hesitation. We won’t allow that to happen!
Whit ah fud, Richard Leonard M.S.P. is.