Parties promise to set up cancer centres

Both the SNP and Labour are pledging to set up new fast-track cancer diagnosis centres as part of efforts to help the NHS recover from the Covid crisis.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced if her party is re-elected to power in May, it will aim to set up three such new centres by this summer.

These would then be expanded over the next five years, so every health board area would have one.

She announced the new policy as she told how the SNP would “keep the NHS safe” if it wins May’s Scottish Parliament election.

The SNP leader, speaking at an online campaign conference yesterday, said: “I can announce today that as part of our cancer recovery plan, a re-elected SNP Government will establish at least one new fast-track cancer diagnostic centre in every health board area.”

Meanwhile, an NHS recovery plan from Scottish Labour promised the party would “establish rapid diagnostic centres where GPs can refer patients who have suspicious but unclear symptoms to undergo tests and scans for cancer within days, not months”.

Labour said it wanted to have three of these centres set up by the end of this year, and that every health board should have one by the end of the next Parliament, “so that every patient receives their diagnosis within two weeks”.

Labour’s NHS recovery plan also set out an increase in spending for mental health services, calling for the amount of money allocated to this to rise from about 8% of the overall health service budget to 11% – bringing the country in line with spending south of the border.