Scots doctors dissect critical report

Helen Puttick, Health Correspondent

Published on 18 Mar 2010

Scottish doctors have published a damning critique of a report which claimed Scotland had the most expensive but poorest health service in the UK.

The British Medical Association (BMA) Scotland said the study by the Nuffield Trust did not make meaningful comparisons between the health services in Scotland, Wales, England and Northern Ireland. They asserted that the trust’s report focused on healthy policy priorities that exist in England, rather than considering the different aims of the devolved nations.

According to BMA Scotland, while the report attacked the devolved nations for failing to improve waiting times, data show the median wait for treatment for cataract surgery, bypass surgery, hip replacement, knee replacement and some heart procedures was lower in one or more of the devolved countries than in England. It also said the work of GPs was ignored and surgeries in the devolved countries had achieved higher scores than England in the GP performance-related pay scheme.

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