TENS of thousands of people who have finished cancer treatment are missing out on the support and care they need to cope with the medical, emotional and financial after-effects of the disease, according to a leading charity.
The Scottish Government is to launch its much-delayed cancer care plan before later this spring.
But Macmillan Cancer Support in Scotland said big gaps in post-cancer care need to be addressed.
The charity is calling for ministers to promise every patient diagnosed with cancer a full assessment taking into account their wider emotional, physical and financial needs.
This currently happens in some health board areas, including Glasgow, but sufferers can still slip through the cracks, or live in areas where access to post-cancer support may be dependent on chance.
Dr Elspeth Atkinson, director of Macmillan Cancer Support in Scotland, said: "We urgently need transformational change in the cancer care system in Scotland.The new cancer plan - the first for eight years - must set out how this will be achieved.
"If this opportunity is missed, there is a very real risk that tens of thousands of people who have finished cancer treatment won't get the help they need to recover."
Around 220,000 Scots have cancer and Macmillan said 89 per cent of Scots surveyed in a YouGov poll backed the proposal for patients to receive full assessments. Some 86 per cent of people said it was important for cancer patients to get help with their non-medical support needs after treatment.
"The problem in many cases isn't that help isn't available. Often it is simply that people aren't told about it," Dr Atkinson said.
Businessman Alan Clarke was unable to return to work after undergoing treatment for head and neck cancer in 2009. The treatment had affected his hearing and speech, and left him mentally shaky, he says, but he was not offered any help from the NHS or social care system to cope.
"My treatment lasted six months and during this time the NHS was fabulous. However it is only once treatment finishes and one is back to living a 'normal life' that it strikes home. The consequences will be with me for the next 40 years," said the 49-year-old father-of-two, from Newton Mearns.
"It has impacted on my work, as I could no longer do my old job. It impacted on me emotionally, leaving me dealing with many mental gremlins."
He said a decision to take out income insurance a decade ago is the only reason he did not lose his house.
"Cancer and the treatment can have lifelong life-changing implications and people need to be offered help to deal with them," he said.
A Transforming Care After Treatment conference in Glasgow heard that while the Scottish Government, charities, the NHS and local authorities are already working on projects which address some of the gaps in care, the number of Scots living with cancer is expected to rise by 40,000 by 2020, and many of those people will have long-term support needs which the system is not currently set up to meet.
Health Secretary Shona Robison said: “We continue to work closely with Macmillan Cancer Support and other stakeholders to improve the range of advice and support available to people living with cancer.
"Our Transforming Care After Treatment programme, delivered in partnership with Macmillan, NHS Scotland and local authorities, aims to support and enable cancer survivors to live as healthy a life as possible for as long as possible.
“Last week we also announced a £450,000 investment for Macmillan Benefits Services which supports cancer patients, their families and carers to access benefits, claim grants, free white goods and deal with debt.
“This Government is absolutely committed to supporting people with cancer and ensuring they have access to the best possible care both during and after treatment. We will invest in improving diagnosis and treatment within the framework of our new cancer plan for Scotland that we will publish in spring 2016 ahead of the dissolution of Parliament.”
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