Worst cancer waiting times as 5,000 patients hit by two-month delay

THOUSANDS of cancer patients faced agonising waits for treatment in Scotland last year as queues for care hit a record high.

More than 5,000 patients referred for potentially life-saving medical attention were stuck on lengthy lists for more than two months.

Almost 1,500 with suspected cancer waited more than a month for treatment to start despite urgent referrals.

Patients should be seen within 62 days of being referred, but for the final quarter of last year, fewer than three-quarters of patients were seen within the time frame, new data shows.

It falls woefully short of the SNP Government’s target – which has not been met for more than a decade – for 95 per cent of patients to be seen within two months.

Kate Seymour of Macmillan Cancer Support said the ‘data shows cancer waiting times in Scotland were the worst year on record in 2023 and are still

‘Devastating consequences’

worsening’. She added: ‘Hundreds of people each month continue to face anxiously long waits for cancer treatment and the cancer workforce in Scotland is exhausted, working in crisis conditions. It’s unsustainable.

‘It is crucial that the Scottish Government takes action to ensure their own targets can be met and people living with cancer can get the care they need and deserve, now and in the future.’

Dr Sandesh Gulhane, health spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives, warned of a ‘terrifying ticking time bomb of cancer cases on the SNP’s watch’, adding: ‘It should be a source of shame for them that well over a quarter of cancer patients are waiting over two months to begin treatment.’

Of the 4,457 people referred between October and December last year, Public Health Scotland data showed only 71.1 per cent of patients started receiving treatment on time. It was down from 71.9 per cent in the previous quarter and compares with 83.7 per cent of patients starting treatment in the target time in the last three months of 2019, before the Covid pandemic.

In the latest figures, only NHS Orkney met the 62-day standard. In NHS Shetland, just 50 per cent of patients started cancer treatment within two months of being referred, while in NHS Grampian the figure was 54.4 per cent.

Dr Gulhane added: ‘Successive SNP health secretaries have failed to meet this target for over a decade and cannot hide behind Covid as an excuse for these shocking stats. Health Secretary Neil Gray must get a grip on cancer waiting times urgently, otherwise more patients will face the devastating consequences.’

NHS Scotland as a whole has not met the 62-day target since the final three months of 2012.

Scottish Labour health spokesman Jackie Baillie said: ‘Cancer is Scotland’s biggest killer and we know that early detection and treatment leads to better outcomes – but the fact is the SNP Government’s failure to support NHS staff is creating a cancer care time bomb.’

A second target for 95 per cent of cancer patients to begin treatment within 31 days of a decision being made to treat them was ‘narrowly missed’, Public Health Scotland said.

This target was achieved for 94.1 per cent of the 6,829 eligible patients from October to December last year – down from 94.9 per cent the previous quarter.

Mr Gray said: ‘We’re treating more patients on 62 and 31-day pathways than before the Covid19 pandemic – over 700 more and over 400 more respectively in this latest quarter. We remain absolutely committed to reducing waiting times.’

RAPID treatment and diagnosis are crucial for effective cancer care – but patients are being failed by the SNP’s appalling mismanagement of the crisis-stricken NHS.

They should be seen within 62 days of being referred – but fewer than three-quarters are seen within that period. For the patients affected, and their anxious relatives, these lengthy waits are stressful – as they know how critical it is for treatment to start as promptly as possible to boost chances of survival.

Yet, depressingly, the figures come as no surprise, as the NHS has undergone 17 years of decline under Nationalist stewardship.

Higher-rate taxes were hiked by John Swinney when he was stand-in Finance Secretary – supposedly to pay for ‘patient care’ – but spending on health is set to fall.

The net result is that vulnerable Scots in desperate need of life-saving treatment are languishing on waiting lists – and plainly the situation is getting worse.

Neil Gray, who replaced disgraced former Health Secretary Michael Matheson when he was axed last month, insists that while the NHS ‘remains under pressure’ more patients are being treated than before the pandemic.

That is little comfort to cancer patients and their families – who deserve better than the incompetence of a government which has run our most prized public service into the ground.