The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Fife and Tayside health boards failing cancer patients
Patients waiting more than twice the Scottish Government’s waiting time target
Cancer patients in Fife and Tayside can wait more than twice the two-month maximum waiting time for urgent treatment.
The Scottish Government has set a maximum waiting time of two months but longest waiting time figures released to Conservative MSP Liz Smith have revealed some patients in Fife are waiting around five months and in Tayside the wait can be more than six weeks.
Ms Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, said: “The fact that cancer patients in need of urgent care in Fife, Forth Valley and Tayside are waiting between four and six months for their treatment to start is unacceptable.
“If a cancer patient is urgently referred by a doctor, they should not have to wait longer than the 62-day target timeframe.”
She added: “The Scottish Government must work hard to ensure that patients in Forth Valley, Tayside and Fife are supported throughout their cancer journey and that means treatment starting as soon as possible.”
NHS Fife medical director Dr Frances Elliot said: “We recognise the importance of commencing cancer treatment at the earliest possible stage and patients in Fife who require urgent treatment for the most aggressive cancers receive this quickly.
“The most recently published statistics show that 92.7% of patients in Fife referred with a suspicion of cancer began their treatment within 62 days – nationally 86.9% begin treatment within this timeframe.
“We are constantly striving to reduce the time our patients wait to begin cancer treatment and are working with our neighbouring boards to ensure that intervention is offered as quickly as possible.”
Meanwhile, the associate medical director with NHS Tayside, Gavin Main, said meeting targets was challenging given some patients required major investigations to determine the correct treatment.
“This can, understandably, take some time,” he said.
“Our cancer teams work extremely hard ensuring every patient is tracked through each stage of their journey.
“By doing this, we can intervene or escalate cases immediately if there appears to be any delay in treatment and we will always work to minimise factors producing delays.
“We recognise that any cancer diagnosis is worrying for patients and their families and that is why we will never be complacent and continue to strive for improved service.”
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde was bottom of the longest waiting times list, with the worst waiting time reaching 10-and-a-half months.
In Forth Valley, patients could be waiting nearly seven months for treatment.