Cancer patient waits for 198 days

A cancer patient living in the north of Scotland has had to wait 198 days to receive treatment.

New figures show that health boards across the region only managed to achieve the 62-day referral to treatment target in 87% of cases – the worst rating in the country.

The longest wait recorded was at NHS Highland, where a patient had to wait 196 days to be treated, while in NHS Grampian a patient had to wait 166 days.

Cancer Research UK branded the figures “unacceptable”, but Health Secretary Shona Robison said she was “focusing” on helping health boards meet the target.

Scottish Labour North East MSP Lewis Macdon-

“Targets will only work if they are funded properly”

ald said the figures were a result of “years of underfunding” by the SNP administration. He said: “Targets will only work if they are funded properly, and it is clear from these figures that the Scottish Government has not been providing the funding and support need by NHS Grampian to treat cancer patients across the region.”

Scottish Conservative Highlands and Islands MSP Donald Cameron agreed the figures were “unacceptable”. He said: “Early detection has rightly been the centrepiece of Scottish Government campaigns for some time now. But that’s no use if health boards aren’t managing to move people through the system quickly enough.”