Tweet

Dean M Thomson

31 Aug, 11 tweets, 3 min read

Thread 🧵/

Don’t trust the first minister with the post-covid NHS recovery plan. Fact is, she has long presided over a mess. Let’s remind ourselves of the state of healthcare under the SNP prior to the May elections. Ask yourself, is the SNP capable of fixing things?

(1/11

➡️ Waiting lists

During quarter ending 31 March 2021, waiting list sizes continued to increase. Percentage of patients experiencing longer waits also increased. “At 31 March 2021, 13.5% (47,884) had been waiting over 52 weeks or more, up on 7% (23,928) at 31 December 2020”
(2/11

➡️ Treatment Time Guarantee

Of those patients admitted to hospital, Public Health Scotland statistics report found 71.5% had waited 12 weeks (84 days) or less. This compares to 61% for the previous quarter and 68.3% for quarter ending 31 March 2020.

Sounds good…except…
(3/11

The increase in patients waiting less than 12 weeks is thanks to the pausing of some non-urgent treatments due to covid.

So it’s hard to claim the NHS under the SNP is succeeding on delivering the 12 week wait guarantee. They have been ‘pausing’ non urgent treatments.
(4/11

➡️ More patients experiencing longer waits

“The percentage of patients experiencing longer waits is also increasing. At 31 March 2021, 29.8% (28,203) had been waiting 52 weeks or more, up from 17.6% (15,128) at 31 December 2020.”
(5/11

➡️ Increasing waiting list sizes.
➡️ Increasing percentage of patients waiting 52 weeks or more for treatment
➡️ 12 week wait guarantee only being met by ‘pausing’ bucketloads of non-essential treatments

But surely this is all the fault of covid-19?
(6/11

➡️ NHS Scotland’s problems go back long before the pandemic

The SNP have a long record of ignoring problems within the Scottish NHS. For example back in 2019 it was revealed the NHS was struggling with a £207m deficit.
(7/11

So there have been questions of SNP management of the health service for quite some time.

NHS lothians: responsible for £90m of that 2019 deficit.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde reportedly accounted for £61.5m of the deficit.

And how did the SNP respond back in 2019?
(8/11

The then Health Secretary Jeane Freeman responded to complaints about delayed treatment by shelving waiting times targets until 2021.
(9/11

Presiding over an NHS in financial trouble? Unable to open a sick kids hospital on time? Struggling to balance the medical books? Then just shelve waiting time targets.

If people don’t know the scale of the failures, you can’t be held accountable.
(10/11

Sources:

▪️ Public Health Scotland Statistics Report publichealthscotland.scot/publications/n…

▪️ SNP Government under pressure over £207m NHS Scotland deficit (Daily Record)
dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/…
(11/11

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

More from @DeanMThomson

Dean M Thomson

@DeanMThomson

2 Sep

Thread on SNP’s record in Glasgow local government

If you saw the SNP Glasgow City Council (GCC) leader Susan Aitken STV interview you might be forgiven for thinking it was a car crash. It was. But the SNP’s legacy in Glasgow is even worse than you can imagine.
(1/16

➡️ Budget choices

According to Audit Scotland’s 2021 report GCC has ‘a track record of delivering significant savings’

In plain English ‘budget savings’ means a reduction in money spent. Obviously. GCC leader Susan Aitken might argue this merely represents efficiencies
(2/16

Indeed if ‘budget savings’ merely represent delivering the same local services, capital investment etc but cheaper…isn’t that a good thing?

Except what if services are deteriorating?
(3/16

Read 17 tweets

Dean M Thomson

@DeanMThomson

31 May

Now you see it, now you don't

The story behind the allegedly missing £600,000 SNP 'indyref2' fund.

Where it originated from, when it allegedly first went missing. Why it matters now SNP figures are resigning from the finance & audit committee & national treasurer role.
[1/21]

1⃣ The year is 2017, before the General Election of that year. And the SNP launched a fundraiser for a planned indyref2.

On ref.scot it was made clear that all money raised on the website was to be ringfenced to fight a future independence referendum
[2/21]

And according to reporting this indyref2 fundraiser; which was explicitly stated as being for the purposes of a future indyref2; raised £482,000 of the original £1m target.
[3/21]

Read 23 tweets

Dean M Thomson

@DeanMThomson

30 May

Back in March we had members of SNP Finance & Audit Committee resign, claiming lack of access & information to party accounts.

Now in May SNP finance boss Douglas Chapman quit over 'lack of information'

It's time we asked: what the hell is going on with SNP finances?
[1/17]

➡️Back in March...

It was reported that Frank Ross (qualified chartered accountant, Lord Provost of Edinburgh Council), Livingston company director Cynthia Guthrie & Mid Scotland & Fife NEC member Allison Graham had all resigned from the SNP's Finance & Audit Committee
[2/17]

At the time it was alleged that they had felt compelled to resign due to Peter Murrell (SNP chief exec, husband to Nicola Sturgeon) was refusing them full access to the party accounts.
[3/17]

Read 19 tweets

Dean M Thomson

@DeanMThomson

25 May

Following the spectacle of a Glasgow mob overturning the rule of law, and given the highly politicised virtue signalling going on; its time to do a thread on the SNP, Scotland and the immigration debate. And doing so dispassionately, sticking to facts.
(1/19)

1️⃣ Claims that Scotland’s view of immigration is divergent from the rest of the UK is false.

It is categorically untrue that Scots think about the immigration debate differently from English of Welsh people.
(2/19)

But don’t take my word of it, let’s look at the ScotCen researchers analysis of the Scottish and British Social Attitudes Surveys (2017).

➡️ Scotland has relatively positive view on benefits of immigration
➡️ This is the exact same picture as in England or Wales
(3/19)

Read 19 tweets

Dean M Thomson

@DeanMThomson

18 May

John Swinney is no longer the education secretary, being moved by the FM to become ‘minister in charge of covid recovery’ (still no health secretary appointed yet)

So let’s review John Swinney’s five years heading up Scottish education.
(1/16)

1️⃣ He abandoned a flagship education bill

Swinney dropped a major education reform which would have transferred power over the running of schools, the curriculum and budgets from councils to headteachers.

He buckled because the teaching unions told him to.
(2/16)

John Swinney claimed standards were improving, and its thanks to an absence of that flagship SNP education bill

“It is clear to me we would not have come so far in such a short period of time if we had relied on introducing an Education Bill.”
(3/16)

Read 16 tweets

Dean M Thomson

@DeanMThomson

12 May

"Let us demonstrate, with cool heads & patient persuasion that Scotland is ready" Ms Sturgeon, 28th Nov 2020, STV

A lot has happened since the FM that, how has the 'patient persuasion' on independence progressed?

➡️What of the polls?
➡️What of the economic case for indy?
[1/16]

1⃣ What of the polls?

A polling average since beginning of April reveals 46% against independence & 45% in favour.

But if we take 10 most recent polls, no lead extends to 47% opposed & 44% in favour. At same time, the number of undecideds has remained at around 9% of pop
[2/16]

If anything Nicola Sturgeon's 'patient persuasion' is indeed persuading people, but of the merits of the UK as compared to the weak case for scexit.

A regular 'yes' lead has by this point largely disappeared in favour of remaining in the UK.
[3/16]

Read 16 tweets

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!