SUPPORT teams are being sent into Scotland's major health boards amid concern patients are waiting too long for cancer treatment.
The advice squads are being posted to Greater Glasgow and Clyde (GGC), Grampian, Lothian, Tayside and the Highlands after they all missed targets for controlling delays.
Former SNP health secretary Nicola Sturgeon made swifter cancer treatment one of her first priorities when she took office in 2007 and said it was "simply not good enough" the waiting times goal was still not being met the following year.
Scotland went on to meet the aim of starting treatment for 95% of patients within 62 days of an urgent hospital referral, but performance has since begun to slip. New figures released yesterday revealed the goal was missed throughout last year with 94.6% of patients treated in time during the last three months of 2013.
Patients appear to have quicker access to treatment in some health boards than others. In Tayside, where the target was being met last summer, one in 10 patients waited too long during October, November and December.
In Grampian 92% of patients were treated in time compared to 94.2% in GGC, 94.3% in Lothian and 94.7% in Highland over the same quarter.
Alex Neil, the current Health Secretary, said the Scottish Government was taking action because "the earlier cancer is detected and treated, the greater the chance of survival". He said: "While NHS Scotland provides some of the best cancer care in the world, we scrutinise waiting times performance because patients should not suffer unnecessary distress because of lengthy waits for a diagnosis or to start their treatment.
"We are monitoring on a weekly basis those health boards who are not regularly meeting the 62-day cancer standard and a support team is visiting boards to offer additional advice. I believe that this group will bring about real improvements and help health boards to ensure these key targets will be met in the future."
Neil Findlay, Scottish Labour's health spokesman, said health boards needed more resources in order to offer swifter treatment. He said: "Alex Neil thinks that sending in 'support squads' will do the job. But it's no coincidence the health board areas who are struggling the most to meet targets cover the most populated areas of the country. They need resources to help them manage the increasing demands of patient care, not an extra layer of bureaucracy."
Mr Findlay also expressed concern about the sudden rise in the number of patients queuing too long in Tayside. He said: "I would hope the health board will take a serious look at what has happened and that every effort will be made to ensure performance is improved."
More progress has been made on reducing delays for treatment for some cancers than others. Almost 99% of breast cancer patients are looked after in line with the target. For bowel cancer patients detected through routine screening programmes the figure is 92.5%.
Charity Bowel Cancer UK welcomed the introduction of support groups to help health boards meeting the target. A spokeswoman said: "Cancer waiting time targets have contributed to reducing the length of time in which a patient receives access to a diagnostic test and begins treatment.
"It is vital all health boards are meeting this target and that no patient is kept waiting longer than they need to be."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article