NHS Scotland fails to meet key cancer waiting targets

The Scottish Government is being urged to tackle the country’s “cancer care crisis” after performance against key waiting times standards fell again across health boards.

Labour health spokeswoman Dame Jackie Baillie made the plea after Public Health Scotland data showed less than three-quarters of patients start receiving treatment within 62 days of first being referred for help when cancer is suspected.

With Labour, the Tories and the Liberal Democrats all demanding action from Health Secretary Neil Gray,

Dame Jackie said: “Scotland is in the grips of a cancer care crisis with targets being missed again and again.

“Thousands of Scots are waiting far too long to get the cancer care that they desperately need while SNP Government targets are broken across the country.”

The Scottish Government has set the target of 95 per cent of patients in Scotland starting treatment within 62 days of first being referred, but this has not been met since the final three months of 2012.

The latest figures, covering the final quarter of 2023, show that of the 4,457 people referred, 71.1 per cent of patients started receiving treatment within the target time.

That was down from 71.9% in the previous quarter, Public Health Scotland said, and below the 83.7% of patients who started treatment within the target time in the last three months of 2019, prior to the Covid pandemic.

In the period October to December 2023, only one health board – NHS Orkney – met the 62-day standard, with 100% of patients starting cancer treatment within this time.