Only praise for Golden Jubilee

I READ with interest the report regarding mortality rates at the West of Scotland Heart and Lung Centre at the Golden Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank (“Fears over death rates at flagship Scots heart hospital”, The Herald, May 17).

If the original data submission to the Society for Cardiothoracic Surgeons was found to contain emergency procedures, which should have been excluded, then surely the correct figure for The Herald to use for comparison is 3.9%? This is a figure which is not higher than expected by UK standards.

Of course death is a possible and unfortunate outcome during or following heart surgery but to imply that the medical teams at the Golden Jubilee are in any way operating a sub-standard level of care is quite wrong.

During a recent pre-heart op consultation with a senior surgeon at the Jubilee, it never crossed my husband’s mind to ask his doctor how many of his patients had died. As he faces open heart surgery this week, he is just so grateful to all the staff at the Scottish Adult Congenital Cardiac Unit for helping to save his life.

BEN WRAY WAS born 15 years after the SNP’s breakthrough election of 1974, where it achieved 30.4% of the Scottish vote. But I still know all about the slogan: “It’s Scotland’s oil”. It captures the faith that a small country can be a credible economic power, and it still resonates with me.

I am neither a member of the SNP nor a Nationalist. But I do support independence, and I am frustrated that we lack this sort of clarity today.

The leaders of Yes Scotland and the SNP are defensive about our prospects, stuck in a cycle of fending off attacks from the No side. They should assert the case for a different sort of economy, one that uses our resources to meet the needs of the Scottish people.

Recent polls have shown the public lacks faith in the economics of independence. This has created a