Scotland Debate

[Hobbit]

More spending per head because more tax is raised per head maybe?

Only a wiki link as I couldn't be arsed looking further.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_spending_in_the_United_Kingdom

I'll be voting no, but I don't like this thought that Scots are subsidy junkies!

The figures are always going to be skewed anyway, England has a much larger population and would therefore require less spending per head on say a hospital than the other UK nations, simple math really. You would get a clearer picture if you took spending per head of population from geographical areas in England for comparison, say NW,NE,SW,SE,Midlands and London for example. Not sure how that would compare but I have a feeling it would paint a different picture perhaps.

I think its more complex than the spending per head. The cost of a hospital bed in England is the same as the cost in Scotland, but the hospitals are usually bigger - note usually. I'm well aware of the size of the likes of the (new) Southern General in Glasgow.

Saying a hospital in Scotland costs the same as one in England ignores the fact that most hospitals built in England are usually bigger because of population densities.... so although the cost per head is less, the actual cost of the build is more... its them damned statistics, and lies, again.

 

[Val]

Remember what we appear to get for "free" is often not all it seems, it's paid for elsewhere. No such thing as a free breakfast, just ask Holiday Inn Express

 

[MegaSteve]

Remember what we appear to get for "free" is often not all it seems, it's paid for elsewhere. No such thing as a free breakfast, just ask Holiday Inn Express

Fair enough... But one thing I found hard to stomach was all the years I paid for my prescriptions whilst all those outside England didn't... Past caring now as I'm of an age where mine are free but herself still has to purchase an annual ticket... I am sure its balanced out somewhere just not obvious to an old whinger like me...

 

[FairwayDodger]

Fair enough... But one thing I found hard to stomach was all the years I paid for my prescriptions whilst all those outside England didn't... Past caring now as I'm of an age where mine are free but herself still has to purchase an annual ticket... I am sure its balanced out somewhere just not obvious to an old whinger like me...

The free prescriptions thing really annoys me. NHS Scotland has a budget and chooses (or maybe has been dictated to by government) to provide free prescriptions.

NHS in England uses its budget differently, in a less populist but probably more effective way. For example, on some modern cancer drugs which are available in England for the cost of a prescription but not available at all up here.

 

[MegaSteve]

The free prescriptions thing really annoys me. NHS Scotland has a budget and chooses (or maybe has been dictated to by government) to provide free prescriptions.

NHS in England uses its budget differently, in a less populist but probably more effective way. For example, on some modern cancer drugs which are available in England for the cost of a prescription but not available at all up here.

When you say government do you mean Westminster or Holyrood?

Distribution of the latest whizz bang drugs is pretty regionalised south of the wall...

 

[Doon frae Troon]

My English friends in Essex and Wiltshire tell me of 2/3 week waits to get a GP appointment.
That is one way of being 'less populist'.

I don't think that would be tolerated in Scotland.

My wife was signed off from cancer care in England only to find that when she moved to Scotland they continued to monitor her for an additional 2 years. Mind you I don't think she was too pleased with that!

 

[NWJocko]

My English friends in Essex and Wiltshire tell me of 2/3 week waits to get a GP appointment.
That is one way of being 'less populist'.

I don't think that would be tolerated in Scotland.

at!

It was when I lived in Edinburgh and had lengthy waits for appointments.

I can now phone any day and get an appointment :thup:

 

[Doon frae Troon]

It was when I lived in Edinburgh and had lengthy waits for appointments.

I can now phone any day and get an appointment :thup:

But when

 

[NWJocko]

But when

Same day I should have added.

If Scotland is already streets ahead of England in every way, as this sort of nonsense you post implies, why do you want independence...?

 

[FairwayDodger]

When you say government do you mean Westminster or Holyrood?

Distribution of the latest whizz bang drugs is pretty regionalised south of the wall...

Holyrood - buying votes through short-term populist policies.

Presumably the regionalised availability of drugs down there is due to regional NHS budgets and different spending priorities?

 

[c1973]

I think its more complex than the spending per head. The cost of a hospital bed in England is the same as the cost in Scotland, but the hospitals are usually bigger - note usually. I'm well aware of the size of the likes of the (new) Southern General in Glasgow.

Saying a hospital in Scotland costs the same as one in England ignores the fact that most hospitals built in England are usually bigger because of population densities.... so although the cost per head is less, the actual cost of the build is more... its them damned statistics, and lies, again.

Yep, totally agree. It's a lot more complicated than the tabloids say. There's a lot taken into account when working out government spend. Hence the reason I argued the original comment was disingenuous.

 

[Adi2Dassler]

I've never had to wait more than 24 hours to see a doctor in Edinburgh.

 

[c1973]

Remember what we appear to get for "free" is often not all it seems, it's paid for elsewhere. No such thing as a free breakfast, just ask Holiday Inn Express

Don't know about them, but I've had a few free breakfasts in my time.

 

[NWJocko]

I've never had to wait more than 24 hours to see a doctor in Edinburgh.

Emergency appointment?

I suspect the same is true in Essex, routine appointments may well have a couple of weeks wait in the south

Wasnt the case when I was there, albeit some time ago now, glad its improved.

 

[FairwayDodger]

My English friends in Essex and Wiltshire tell me of 2/3 week waits to get a GP appointment.
That is one way of being 'less populist'.

I don't think that would be tolerated in Scotland.

My wife was signed off from cancer care in England only to find that when she moved to Scotland they continued to monitor her for an additional 2 years. Mind you I don't think she was too pleased with that!

I can get a same day appointment if I phone at 8.00 am and it's an "emergency". Otherwise it's just your luck, might get an appointment in a couple of days or a couple of weeks.

 

[Val]

Don't know about them, but I've had a few free breakfasts in my time.

They've just been told that offering a "free" breakfast is false advertising as you can't book a bed without breakfast, they need to change their wording.

 

[MegaSteve]

My English friends in Essex and Wiltshire tell me of 2/3 week waits to get a GP appointment.
That is one way of being 'less populist'.

I don't think that would be tolerated in Scotland.

My wife was signed off from cancer care in England only to find that when she moved to Scotland they continued to monitor her for an additional 2 years. Mind you I don't think she was too pleased with that!

The care my good lady wife has had at Charing Cross Hospital has been nothing but first class... The tories are seeking to shut this excellent facility with no obvious replacement... Perhaps the main reason they 'lost' at the recent council elections... Running down of NHS is not as you may think being "tolerated" in these parts...

 

[c1973]

They've just been told that offering a "free" breakfast is false advertising as you can't book a bed without breakfast, they need to change their wording.

Ahhh I see, I wasn't aware of that.

 

[MegaSteve]

Presumably the regionalised availability of drugs down there is due to regional NHS budgets and different spending priorities?

I am sure the many layers of upper middle lower management don't help the 'situation'....

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

The logic and rationale behind the differentials in per head spending across the UK are one thing - the unfortunate truth seems to be fact that most who will spout on about these differentials by regurgitating tabloid headlines do not really have any interest in that rationale.

As for many emotive political issues their truth is simple to understand and state. Scots electorate get more funding per head than the English electorate and the Scots get stuff free that the English don't. One is the consequence of the other. That is unfair to some if not many of the English electorate and when Scotland votes NO they will have an expectation that that imbalance should be addressed. And in the run-up to the next Westminster GE there will be pressure on parties and candidates to address the imbalance - Scotland having decided to stay in the UK after all. If we are all in it together we should all feel the same pain.