Our article today about an NHS horror story is another eye-opener.
Lucy Mackay, from Kilbirnie, was taken to accident and emergency by ambulance after suffering pain all over her body.
Her ordeal included a near 10-hour wait at A&E and three days in a hospital store room, after which she was discharged without having vital scans carried out.
As Lucy told us: “I would hear them outside the room laughing about what was happening to ‘the girl in the cupboard’.”
NHS staff do a great job but negative feedback from patients is now a reality.
Our health service is in urgent need of reform but nobody seems willing to take responsibility for making radical changes.
It is not just individual patients whose testimony is damaging the reputation of our most valued public service.
Two flagship hospitals at both ends of the M8 – the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow and the new Sick Kids facility in Edinburgh – are in dire straits.
The Sick Kids remains unopened due to ventilation problems and the Queen Elizabeth should never have been opened in the first place.
The Scottish Government’s day job is to ensure that public services get better, not worse, and it is hard to argue that Nicola Sturgeon’s administration should be given a pass mark on the NHS.
Waiting times targets will not be met until 2021 and the performance of some health boards is a scandal.
If the First Minister is mulling over a New Year’s resolution, it should be to fix our ailing health service.
Off the buses
A popular mantra is that workers should give up cars and go by bus.
Not only does public transport cut air pollution, we are told, but leaving the car at home helps fight climate change.
All well and good, but new figures show members of the public are not being helped to make the switch.
Fares have consistently risen over the last decade and the number of journeys has fallen. Part of the problem is industry deregulation and the drive for profit by bus companies.
The Scottish Government must use all levers at its disposal to encourage the creation of publicly-run bus firms.
Christmas tweet
Heart-warming incidents still do occur around the country.
Customers visiting a B&M store in Inverness have been treated to the sight of a robin sitting on top of a Christmas tree.
The tiny bird flies through the entrance and places himself at his favourite spot. He leaves at closing time.
It’s one tweet we can rely on.
