Scotland deserves a government that will move mountains for cancer patients - Alex Cole-Hamilton
Every hour, four Scots are diagnosed with cancer. As Scotland’s biggest killer, it claims the lives of approx-imately 16,300 people every year. These figures are a reminder of why early diagnosis and early intervention are crucial.
Cancer patients need care fast to give them the best possible chance of survival. But right now, in Scotland, that’s not what they’re getting from this SNP government.
In June, official statistics showed that just 68.9 per cent of cancer patients are being seen within the Scottish Government’s 62-day treatment standard (covering the time from referral with an urgent suspicion of cancer to first treatment). This represents the worst performance against the target since records began.
In an attempt to defend this, the Health Secretary highlighted the median waiting time for treatment of 52 days, as if that were something to celebrate. New analysis by my party, however, has uncovered that 52 days is itself the worst average wait time for cancer treatment on record. SNP ministers are fast running out of excuses.
International studies show that Scotland is falling behind. Cancer patients in Scotland were less likely to receive chemotherapy and were slower to start treatment than those in similar countries, including Norway, Canada and Australia.
In what must be one of the most damning reports into medical care in Scotland I have ever read, the Royal College of Radiologists warned that we currently have the worst shortage of clinical oncologists of any UK nation.
Public Health Minister Jenni Minto recently admitted that people could be losing their lives due to delays to diagnoses.
In the next twenty years, the number of Scottish lung cancer patients could rise by almost 60 per cent, with significant increases in cases of breast and colorectal cancers too. More of the same isn’t going to work; we urgently need a step change in approach.
Scottish Liberal Democrats want to see ministers who will move mountains to bring down waits, get to grips with gaps in tech and staff and end the postcode lottery in care. As I write this, there are specific, practical steps that the Scottish Government could be taking to do that.
Three years ago, the UK National Screening Committee recommended that the whole of the UK introduce lung cancer screening to help prevent it or catch it early. It would be targeted at those who are high risk; people aged between 55 and 74, who smoke or who used to. Experts have called it a game changer.
Survival rates for lung cancer aren’t much better than they were in the 1970s. This cancer screening programme could save hundreds of lives every year.
It’s already being rolled out in England, Wales is going to do it too, but not Scotland. I challenged the First Minister directly on this failure, but I was left no clearer as to why the Scottish Government haven’t moved with the urgency that’s required. It’s this kind of staggering inaction that keeps Scotland at the back of the queue for cancer care. My party want to see the government ending their dithering and making a full rollout of this screening programme a top priority.
We know there isn’t a moment to lose when it comes to getting patients these life-saving interventions. Only the Scottish Liberal Democrats will bring a real vision and a real plan for delivering the vital care those patients need.