Treatment trek

Thank you so much for drawing attention to the high number of cancer patients in Scotland travelling huge distances for life-saving treatment, adding to the physical, emotional and financial strain on them and their families.

The Government spokesman you quote implies that this is done to ensure that all patients are treated at the most appropriate cancer centre. This may be true for some but, by no means, all. Indeed, from my experience, patients can be deliberately directed away from an appropriate and accessible treatment centre for reasons other than patient welfare.

I live in West Fife, within easy reach of Edinburgh’s Western General by public or private transport. When I developed cancer of the tongue two and a half years ago I had wonderful treatment by a highly organised team from nearby Fife and Lothian hospitals, including the Western.

Last year, I found that am one of the unlucky 5 per cent for whom a head or neck cancer makes a reappearance on the opposite side.

I assumed that I would be dealt with by the same team – but no. all care for head and neck cancer patients had been transferred to Tayside. By the end of the investigations and surgery, my son had driven 1,000 miles on my behalf.

Then came the news I would need to attend ninewells, in Dundee, five days a week for six weeks for radiotherapy – a 3,000 mile road trip.

I wrote to the health Boards and the health Minister, but to no avail. I could not attend the closer Western.

Buses would have been at least a five-hour round trip. Train and taxi were too expensive. a family member was told that I couldn’t use the ambulance service ‘unless all other means had been exhausted’.

Two friends announced my situation in church. Eight volunteer drivers offered to support my family making the 100 mile-a-day trip. I had been under such tension that I wept with relief.

On the one hand, it was a wonderful example of human compassion. On the other hand, it raises the question of whether some patients will have to forgo treatment if they cannot personally meet the challenges of travel.

Sheila lee, Dunfermline, Fife.