Dame Jackie Baillie, First Minister John Swinney and LibDem leader Alex Col-Hamilton clashed over cancer waiting times in the Scottish Parliament. Top of page: Princess Kate, the UK’s most high profile cancer patient on a visit to Clydeside.
By Bill Heaney
Cancer is Scotland’s biggest killer, whether it is a rare sarcoma or a more common cancer, yet waiting times for cancer treatment in the first quarter of this year were the worst on record, Dumbarton MSP Jackie Baillie told the Scottish Parliament today.
She insisted to First Minister John Swinney that it was no comfort to patients who are having to wait longer for to see a consultant that him “quoting median waits is no comfort for those who are waiting longer”.
Dame Jackie, who is the Scottish Labour Party deputy leader and health spokesperson, said: “This is a matter of life or death, and the First Minister’s own minister [Jenny Minto] accepted that people have been dying as a result of those delays.
“This very week, the chair of the British Medical Association Scotland said that the NHS was ‘dying before our eyes’.
“How much longer do we need to tolerate the Scottish National Party Government, which is not delivering improvements and which continues to let down staff and patients, with devastating results?”
LibDem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton expressed his dismay too. He was more interested in the actuality of what was happening rather than the statistics.
The First Minister said he agreed with him that early diagnosis is a critical factor in the matter.
He added: “The detect cancer earlier programme has led to the delivery of rapid cancer diagnostic services, which are a key tool in taking forward that work.”
The government had opened a sixth diagnostic service opened this year, and invested more than £40 million over the past five years to support cancer services and improve waiting times.
Mr Swinney assured the public that the situation with cancer “has the focus and attention of the Government, the First Minister and the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care. [Interruption.] I have set out already—
“We can see where the best practices are operating in the country, and the health secretary [Ian Gray] and I are working to ensure that they are deployed in all parts of Scotland.”
LibDem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said cancer patients deserve better than SNP failures, as he challenged the First Minister on cancer waiting times reaching their worst level on record.
Ane he asked why Scots are missing out on a recommended screening programme for lung cancer.
He added: “It comes down to this: if cancer comes for you, you deserve to know that you have the best possible chance of survival. But under this SNP government, that just isn’t happening.
“Even if you haven’t had cancer, you will know somebody who has.
“But now, for patients referred with an urgent suspicion of cancer, treatment times for them are worse than at any point on record.
“When this potentially lethal disease turns your world upside down, the last thing you need is a long wait for life-saving care.
“So can I ask the First Minister, don’t these people deserve better? His regret won’t save lives.
“In Scotland, more people die of lung cancer than any other form of the disease. It kills 4,000 Scots every year. If you come from a poorer background, your chances are far worse.
“Three years ago, the UK National Screening Committee recommended the whole UK introduce lung cancer screening to help prevent it or to catch it early.
“It would be targeted at those who are at the highest risk, people aged between 55 and 74, who smoke or who used to smoke.
“And experts have called it a ‘game changer’.
“Survival rates for lung cancer in Scotland aren’t much better than they were in the 1970s. This intervention could save hundreds of lives every year.
“This cancer screening programme is being rolled out across the whole of England. But not here. Why not?
“Why are we years behind? Why are we so slow? Why are Scots missing out on this life-saving detection service?”