Indy could help us end bed blocking and reduce waiting times

The Herald Scotland

20-06-2025

Yet GP surgery waiting rooms are seldom full.
To me, an ageing GP, the answer to these problems is clear and it begins with an independent Scottish government with the same borrowing powers as Westminster.
Then we could end bed blocking by setting up convalescent homes to receive those patients no longer acutely ill but in need of gradually increasing activity until they are fit to return home or enter long-term care homes.
We used to have them. They were staffed by nurses and physiotherapists but had visiting doctors as required and carers and friends were welcome visitors because they could discuss the next step out of convalescence, back to their own homes.
As for General Practice, it is clear that home visits by what used to be called your 'family doctor' are almost non-existent, though certainly in my practice, acute illness is seen and dealt with almost immediately by the doctor on call, though to see the doctor of your choice may mean that you wait a week or more. It is different but appears to work well and if other practices do the same I see no reason to rubbish the care offered. However people vote with their feet and the habit of using the nearest hospital Accident and Emergency department because it is convenient is now endemic.
Why has this happened?
If the one-stop shop is the way patients prefer to be treated, perhaps there should be more Accident and Emergency departments in every hospital or allow GPs immediate access to an A&E department.
Elizabeth Scott, Edinburgh.
Read more letters
New abortion law is so wrong
On Wednesday (June 18) a new legislation was passed in the House of Commons by a majority of 242 MPs who were heard cheering as the result was announced.
At the moment abortion is legal up to 24 weeks, which in itself is utterly ludicrous. I have personally known babies that have been born at 24 weeks and have grown to lead healthy adult lives, some now with children of their own. The NHS is wonderful when it comes to looking after premature babies, moving heaven and earth to save their precious lives. Now, as of yesterday the law is to be changed and decriminalised, which will allow abortion up to the day before birth at nine months. This is barbaric, it is inhuman and violates the human rights of the unborn healthy child.
The majority of supporting MPs were Labour and have said the new law is in place to remove the threat of investigation on the mother of the child. What about the rights of the viable child? What about the many parents who have suffered multiple miscarriages and those who can't have biological children, how does this barbaric decision affect their mental health?
I agree with abortion in the very early stages (under 20 weeks) of pregnancy, if the health of the mother is at critical risk or the child was to be born with profound, life-limiting disabilities or in the case of a pregnancy resulting from rape. That choice must always be permitted and is the decision of the mother.
However, this new law is wrong on every level, it is depraved and disgusting.
Conrad Ritchie, Fraserburgh.
Don't blame CalMac
You headline Peter Wright's letter (June 19) with the words 'What planet is CalMac on?'
Please will you learn to be more accurate about where the origins of the ongoing ferry shambles lie? CalMac has no responsibility for this bourach, it lies entirely with Caledonian Marine Assets Limited, its chief executive, and every member of its board, who should all have been sacked long ago.
Of course, Transport Scotland and, ultimately, the Scottish Government have the final responsibility, but it is certainly not their fault. Oh, no! A big boy did it and ran away!
How the blinkered SNP supporters think this party could run a country, when it has presided over this debacle for over a decade now, is beyond me.
John NE Rankin, Bridge of Allan.
Bus switch makes no sense
Driving around Paisley and local area one notices that the local bus company appears to be using all-electric buses. Having a company in Falkirk that makes them, why were its buses sourced from Japan? The costs of shipping must add greatly to the costs. I also understand Renfrew Council gave the bus company a large grant to purchase said buses. Surely some joined-up thinking is required here?
Robert Mitchell, Elderslie.
Lorna Slater (Image: PA)
Artificial ingratiation
Opposing a motion to the Scottish Parliament titled Demanding a Better Deal for Taxpayers in Scotland, Green MSP Lorna Slater presented the case that, once the benefits of various policies such as "free" prescriptions, bus travel, tuition fees and social care were taken into account and despite higher income tax rates, people in Scotland are generally better off than people in England. To prove her point, she had put her thesis into "an AI" which confirmed her view. If the output from AI was capable of unequivocally defining what is true, it would strengthen her argument; however, it does not have that capability.
Troubled by two recent incidences where ChatGPT had not just given me wrong information but made up "facts" (a phenomenon known as "hallucination"), I challenged ChatGPT why it does that. Its response was enlightening and included the following: "It was trained to sound helpful – not to know the truth. So, when you ask a question, it tries to give you the kind of answer it thinks you want – even if it has to guess."
I find it amusing that Lorna Slater, a politician, turned to AI to justify her position. After all, the text quoted above would also be a reasonable description of most politicians.
George Rennie, Inverness.