Early diagnoses of cancers fall
New figures from NHS are ‘deeply concerning’
The proportion of people diagnosed with the most common cancers at the earliest stage, when their chances of recovery are highest, is falling in NHS Highland, but rising in every Scottish area except the Borders.
The NHS Highland area, which includes Lochaber and Skye, saw the percentage of patients diagnosed at stage 1 for breast, colorectal and lung cancers fall to 24.3 per cent in 2016-17, from 24.7 per cent the previous year, representing 50 fewer diagnoses.
NHS Highland said: ‘During the two-year period January 1 2016 to December 31 2017, 24.3 per cent of patients resident within the NHS Highland area were diagnosed at the earliest stage, which is only slightly less than the Scottish performance of 25.1 per cent. The most promising route for achieving early diagnosis is by increasing participation in cancer screening programmes.’
Patients living in Argyll and Bute are diagnosed for cancer at hospitals within NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, where the proportion of early cancer diagnoses is rising, but far below the Scottish Government’s target.
Around 31,300 people were diagnosed with cancer in 2016, with 15,816 dying from the disease. The most common causes of cancer death and diagnosis, comprising 43 per cent, are lung, breast and colorectal cancer.
Most cancer patients are assigned a number 1-4 to indicate how far it has spread, from stage 1 where cancer is confined to the original organ, to stage 4 where the cancer has spread beyond it and local lymph nodes. Patients diagnosed at stage 1 tend to have better outcomes and longer survival compared with patients diagnosed with stage 4. The Scottish Government launched the Detect Cancer Early programme in 2012 to increase the proportion of people diagnosed at the earliest stage of the disease by 25 per cent by the end of 2015.
However, nationwide figures released last week show the target has been missed and detection rates have increased by only 8.4 per cent since 2010 and 2011.
Moreover, while nine out of 11 NHS boards in Scotland saw an increase since that time, two have seen a decrease: NHS Highland and NHS Borders, at approximately five and eight per cent respectively. The Scottish Government’s efforts to improve cancer detection have been criticised by local Conservative MSP Donald Cameron.
Mr Cameron said: ‘These figures are deeply concerning. People across the Highlands will rightly be worried by this trend and the new health secretary needs to make this a priority.’
Jeane Freeman, who became the health secretary in June, said it was encouraging more than 25 per cent of all breast, lung and bowel cancers in Scotland were detected at the earliest stage.
However, she acknowledged that ‘more needs to be done to increase this further and we are taking action to tackle the variation in early detection rates between our most and least deprived areas’.