Thousands wait longer than cancer care target

More than 5,000 Scots have waited longer than the target time to start cancer treatment in the last five years within the “struggling” NHS, a leading has charity said.

Macmillan Cancer Support called for action after figures were published showing waiting times target for the disease had been missed again – with the goal of having 95 per cent of all people urgently referred beginning treatment within 62 days having not been achieved for the last five years. Analysis by the charity showed from the start of January 2013 to the end of December 2017 a total of 5,509 patients waited more than two months to start treatment.

These included the latest NHS figures, which showed in the last three months of 2017 87.1 per cent of cancer patients began getting help within the target time - down very slightly from the previous quarter. There were 3,394 people referred for treatment during the period, a rise of 4.3 per cent on the same time in 2016. But the figures showed three out of ten urological cancer patients - including people with kidney, bladder and prostate cancer - waited more than two months to start treatment in October to December 2017.

Macmillan Cancer Support’s Gordon Mclean, said: “It’s now five years since cancer waiting times were met. That’s five years of people who are waiting to start cancer treatment facing unnecessary stress and anxiety.”