Charity urges better cancer scanning

A charity has called for improvements in the provision of the latest scans for prostate cancer, claiming men are being “let down” with no access at all in several Scottish health boards.

Freedom of Information requests by Prostate Cancer UK found four NHS boards - Dumfries and Galloway, Forth Valley, Shetland and Tayside - do not offer access to new “ground-breaking” diagnostic scans for the disease, which could boost detection and cut down on unnecessary biopsies.

The organisation is calling on the boards offering no access to prioritise making the service available without delay. Heather Blake of Prostate Cancer UK said: “Widespread variation in the level and quality of access continues to persist, with men in a third of NHS boards being let down with no access whatsoever.”