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Powys County Times
06-06-2025
- Politics
- Powys County Times
Counting begins in Hamilton by-election
Counting has begun in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse Holyrood by-election. Ballot boxes arrived from across the constituency at around 10.15pm, before being rolled out across the counting room at South Lanarkshire Council's headquarters in Hamilton. Turnout has been announced as 44.2%, with a total of 27,155 votes cast on Thursday out of a possible electorate of 61,485. A senior Reform UK source told the PA news agency the party would likely come third in the seat, averting the potential surge the SNP and Labour feared could take hold. A number of high-profile figures in Scottish politics are observing the count, including Scottish Labour deputy leader Dame Jackie Baillie, Net Zero Secretary Mairi McAllan and Labour MSP Monica Lennon. The contest was called in the wake of the death of Scottish Government minister Christina McKelvie and was initially viewed as a battle between the SNP and Labour, but Reform UK saw a surge during the campaign, with the party thought to have a good chance of unseating Labour and coming second. The campaign has been marked by attack ads from the Nigel Farage-led party against Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, accusing him of prioritising people from Pakistan and using a speech he gave encouraging people from a South Asian background to get into politics. Opponents of Reform roundly criticised the ad as 'racist'. First Minister John Swinney described the contest as a 'two-horse race' between his party and Reform, but Labour has consistently said it is still in with a chance. The First Minister said voters should back his party in order to 'stop Farage'. He added: 'People face a simple choice in this by-election. 'They can either vote for the SNP – elect an SNP MSP – or they will end up with a Reform MSP. That's the simple choice.' Reform is yet to win an election at any level in Scotland, but boasts a number of defected councillors. Mr Farage himself, in a visit to Scotland this week, said it was unlikely his party would win, despite recent polls suggesting Reform was second in voter preference in Scotland with just 11 months to go to the next Holyrood election.
The Independent
08-04-2025
- Health
- The Independent
A&E cannot shake off ‘deep freeze of Government incompetence'
Scotland's emergency departments cannot 'shake off the deep freeze of SNP incompetence', Scottish Labour has said. Figures released on Tuesday show A&E departments continue to struggle with waiting times, with 67.4% of patients seen within four hours in the week to March 30. That was down slightly from 68.2% the week before, but remains well short of the 95% target set by the Scottish Government. According to the figures, of the 27,441 attendances in the most recent week, 1,061 people waited longer than 12 hours to be seen, which is up proportionally from the previous week. A total of 2,788 waited longer than eight hours – a proportional drop. Responding to the figures, Scottish Labour deputy leader Dame Jackie Baillie said: 'Winter pressures may have eased but our NHS can't shake off the deep freeze of SNP incompetence. 'The SNP has run down the NHS but it's the hardworking staff and desperate patients who are forced to deal with the chaos in hospital corridors.' Health Secretary Neil Gray – who has been consistently under fire in recent months over pressures in the health service – pointed to improvements based on the same week last year, when 62.9% of attendances were seen within four hours. 'Our A&E departments are still facing sustained pressure with high levels of hospital occupancy impacting patient flow and causing delays,' he said. 'Despite this, latest weekly figures show more than two-thirds of patients were seen within the four-hour target and performance is up 4.5% compared with the equivalent week last year. 'We are determined to drive improvement and are working closely with all boards to ensure they have the necessary measures in place to cope with any peaks in demand. 'Our £200 million of targeted investment will improve patient flow, enhance capacity and tackle delayed discharge. 'We are shifting the balance of care from acute to community. We are expanding Hospital at Home to at least 2,000 beds by the end of 2026, and will deliver direct access to specialist frailty teams in every A&E in Scotland by summer 2025. 'This will enable frail patients with complex needs to bypass A&E and receive the specialist care they need in the most suitable location for them.'
The Independent
17-03-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Scottish patients having to rely on decades-old equipment, says Labour
Patients in Scotland are having to rely on MRI scanners and X-ray machines that are decades old, Scottish Labour has warned. Figures obtained by the party through freedom of information legislation show NHS Grampian is using an MRI scanner which is 15 years old, while one of its X-ray machines is 27 years old. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) has an MRI scanner and CT scanner that are 18 and 19 years old respectively. In total, NHSGGC has six MRI scanners that are more than a decade old, including three more than 15 years old, and 26 X-ray machines that are more than a decade old, including 21 more than 15 years old. NHS Tayside has an MRI scanner and CT scanner and two X-ray machines that are more than 15 years old. Scottish Labour health spokeswoman Dame Jackie Baillie said: 'Patients might be forgiven for thinking they're in the Scottish remake of Back To The Future when they learn how old the machines providing vital medical information actually are. 'Sadly, under the incompetent SNP our crumbling NHS is otherwise unrecognisable from the mid-2000s when patients could walk in the door expecting to be seen. 'The UK Labour Government delivered a record budget settlement to Scotland – the SNP must ensure that hospitals are able to invest in the latest technology to reduce waiting times and ensure that patients get the quick and accurate diagnoses they need.' The Society of Radiographers (SoR) has also expressed concern over the age of some of the diagnostic imaging equipment being used in Scottish hospitals. Charlotte Beardmore, SoR executive director of professional policy, said: 'Our members in Scotland frequently express the urgent need for new equipment. 'The widely accepted benchmark age at which equipment should be replaced is 10 years. 'Older equipment is unreliable, requires expensive maintenance, is often operationally slower and delivers a higher radiation dose to the population than more up-to-date devices. 'More modern equipment also provides enhanced images and is installed with AI and assistive technology, which reduces imaging time and delivers a better experience and outcomes for all patients.'
