NICOLA Sturgeon has faced calls to end Scotland's "postcode lottery" of cancer care during her first First Minister's Questions since succeeding Alex Salmond.

Labour MSP Jackie Baillie urged her to bring forward a new system for allocating cancer drugs, due to have been introduced in May.

Ms Sturgeon also came under pressure from the Scottish Tories to scrap the automatic early release of prisoners.

The new First Minister took a less confrontational approach than her predecessor, calling for consensus on a range of issues and offering to work with opponents.

Ms Baillie, Labour's stand-in leader, raised the case of Glasgow woman Jean MacDonald, who has had to pay £35,000 for drugs to treat ovarian cancer while the same drugs were prescribed free to patients in Edinburgh.

The MSP asked: "Can the First Minister tell me when she will end the postcode lottery for cancer patients across Scotland that her Health Secretary promised to happen by May?"

Ms Sturgeon said: "I want us to be working now to make sure we do not have a postcode lottery, not just in this aspect of healthcare, but in any aspect of healthcare.

"I am familiar with the case she raises. I would be happy to speak to the individual, both to hear her experiences, which is the most important thing, but also to share with her the work the Government is doing and intends to do in the future to improve the situation."

Later, a Scottish Government spokesman said increasing numbers of cancer sufferers were gaining access to drugs not normally available on the NHS through the Individual Patient Treatment Request system.

He said 92 per cent of requests this year had been approved, up from 66 per cent in 2011.

Following the debate, Mark Flannagan, chief executive of the charity Beating Bowel Cancer, repeated the calls for immediate action.

He said: "A year ago the Scottish Government committed to improving drug access for cancer patients by announcing a raft of changes. Yet we are no closer to seeing what the new system will look like and when it will be adopted across the NHS in Scotland.

"As a result, hundreds of cancer patients seeking to access medicines to extend their lives recommended by their specialist clinicians are still facing uncertainty and anxiety, despite the Government's assurances this would come to an end.

"The Government needs to take immediate steps to fulfil its promise to ensure patients battling devastating illness are not kept in the dark about these promised changes for a moment longer."

Ms Davidson demanded an end to the "scandal" of automatic early release for prisoners.

She highlighted the case of Erin O'Neill, who spoke out after she was raped by Ross Wright, an offender released early after serving half his prison sentence for serious assault.

Ms Davidson said reforms excluding the most serious offenders from automatic early release would affect only one per cent of inmates.

Ms Sturgeon invited her to put forward amendments to the legislation as it goes through Holyrood.

In a message to all her opponents, she said: "I am open-minded to any proposals that come from any side of the chamber as to how the government can do things better."

She added: "This is my first day in office - I could stand up here in response to any of the questions I'm asked and engage in the usual defensive ding-dong. I daresay there will be weeks when I do exactly that.

"But today of all days, I want to make very clear. I'm a new First Minister. I'm a proud member of the Government for seven years, but I want to come into this job with an open mind."