Sturgeon urged to act on breast cancer

Nicola Sturgeon wants breast cancer services to have a “long-term future” in Dundee.

She was urged to step in after the CEO of NHS Tayside said he cannot guarantee local services will continue.

At FMQS yesterday north-east MSP Jenny Marra asked the first minister if she would commit to the longterm future of breast cancer services in Dundee.

It comes after NHS Tayside health chief Grant Archibald told Holyrood’s public audit committee he cannot make long-term promises about care following the loss of individuals from the board’s oncology team.

A consultant from Grampian has been working in Dundee since September 2020 in order to “cover vacancies”.

Ms Sturgeon said she did not think it would be “acceptable or appropriate for women in Tayside to have to travel long distances for essential breast cancer support and care”.

“I’m very happy to look into this in more detail in terms of the reasons behind the statement from the NHS Tayside chief executive and understand the basis for those and reply to the member in more detail.”

NHS Tayside’s oncology team was thrown into turmoil in early 2019 after it emerged that around 200 patients were given lower-than-standard doses of chemotherapy drugs in a bid to reduce harmful side effects.

A review said the treatment resulted in a 1-2% increased risk of their cancer recurring but a series of investigations by us revealed one of the experts behind the claim privately admitted it was “flawed, probably, but the best that could be done, really”.