By Lucy Ashton
Jackie Baillie has warned NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde it must do more to make sure women are attending breast screening appointments as the health board area has the worst uptake figures in the whole of Scotland.
Just 68.5 percent of eligible 50 to 70-year-olds attended for their appointment for the period between 2018 and 2021, well below the national average of 73.2 percent.
Within the Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board area, which covers West Dunbartonshire, uptake has fallen over the last decade from 70.8 percent for the period 2008 to 2011.
This comes after Public Health Scotland figures earlier this month laid bare the scale of the cancer crisis across the country in the wake of the Covid pandemic.
The report detailed that cancer incidence fell in deprived areas, such as West Dunbartonshire, compared with more affluent areas attributing this to a “greater level of under-diagnosis” rather than there being less incidences of cancer.
Meanwhile, patients from Dumbarton, the Vale of Leven, Balloch, Helensburgh and Lomond have been hit by long waits again at the local emergency department.
For the week ending April 17th, just over two thirds of people (67.3 percent) attending at the Royal Alexandra Hospital’s A&E were seen within the Scottish Government’s own four-hour target time. Some 11 people presenting at the unit faced waits of 12 hours or more.
Jackie Baillie MSP said: “These new figures are incredibly worrying as they show that people from the Greater Glasgow and Clyde area, which includes Dumbarton constituency, have not had vital cancer screening appointments as they should. There must be a greater focus on encouraging people to come forward and following up with those who do not attend when invited.
“The screening programme was paused at the height of the pandemic however the repercussions of that mean that people are now being diagnosed too late.
“Scottish Labour have long called for a catch-up plan that includes our proposals for rapid diagnostic centres to save lives. It is imperative that the SNP Government makes this happen.
“In addition, week after week our A&E remains in crisis, with thousands of people facing unacceptable waits. Our NHS is on life support – we cannot wait any longer to act.”
NHS Performs – weekly update of emergency department activity and waiting time statistics during week ending 17 April 2022:
- There were 23,880 attendances at A&E services in NHS Scotland.
- 68.1% of attendances at A&E services were seen and resulted in a subsequent admission, transfer or discharge within 4 hours.
- 2,159 patients spent more than 8 hours in an A&E department.
- 855 patients spent more than 12 hours in an A&E department.
- Scottish breast screening programme statistics – Annual update to 31 March 2021For the three-year period 2018/19 – 2020/21: 675,381 women aged 50-70 were invited to attend a routine breast screening appointment. This number is lower than might have been expected because the SBSP was paused between 30th March 2020 and 3rd August 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic (2020/21: 151,977; average for the years 2017/18, 2018/19, and 2019/20: 259,940).
Picture at top of page is of Jackie Baillie welcoming Labour leader Anas Sarwar to her Dumbarton constituency at the Bird of Prey Centre on Loch Lomondside.
Meanwhile, Jackie Baillie has warned that NHS Scotland is falling behind, as new figures show the gulf between diagnostic waiting times in Scotland and England widening and local people some of the worst affected.
As of the end of December 2021, in England 26.3 percent of patients waiting for a key diagnostic test had been waiting more than six weeks – but in Scotland the figure is a shocking 50.4 percent and even higher for the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde area at 55.2 percent.
The proportion of people waiting more than six weeks in Scotland has soared over the course of the pandemic, prompting fears that the country is being allowed to fall even further behind on the SNP’s watch.
In Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board area, which covers the Dumbarton constituency, there were just 1774 people waiting more than six weeks, in February 2020. This has now increased to 23,576 – a whopping rise of more than 10 times the pre-pandemic figure.
Scottish Labour reiterated its calls for a real catch-up plan to stop these long waits overwhelming our NHS and costing lives.
Jackie Baillie said: “Our NHS staff are working day and night to do right by patients, but Scotland is still falling further and further behind on the SNP’s watch and local people are among the worst affected.
“The fact that they cannot even keep pace with this shambolic Tory Government is a damning indictment of their record.
“It is simply not right that patients in Scotland are left to suffer for weeks on end, while their neighbours across the border will be seen more quickly. This is nowhere more clear than in West Dunbartonshire with wait times soaring across the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board area.
“These dire statistics make a mockery of the SNP Government’s waiting times targets, which were already in tatters long before Covid hit. Delays in diagnosis mean delays in treatment and could cost lives.
“Scottish Labour has set out how we can get testing back on track, by investing in a catch-up programme, setting up dedicated diagnostic centres in every health board area, and making sure services have the staff they need. It’s high time the SNP Government adopts this plan for the benefit of people waiting anxiously for tests, often in pain.”
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