Cancer patients in one area of Scotland must travel through five different health board areas for treatment - a situation described as "egregiously unfair" by a former GP who has spent 25 years highlighting their plight.
People from West Galloway who require radiotherapy pass within two miles of Glasgow's world-renowned Beatson centre on the way to Edinburgh's Western General Hospital.
The typically three-and-half-hour journey takes in their own health board, Ayrshire and Arran, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Forth Valley and Lothian.
The problem stems from the area, which takes in towns including Stranraer, being formerly defined as being in the south-east of Scotland for cancer services.
Gordon Baird, a former GP who also chaired a rural healthcare group, first highlighted the distances patients were travelling in 2000.
Since then, he said there had been around a million miles travelled by cancer patients and of those "250,000 that is unnecessary, for people who are ill and under considerable physical, financial and emotional distress."
He said there were "heart-rending stories" but patients were too afraid to put their heads above the parapet and speak out. He mentions one man who refused treatment.
"For cancer, maternity, GP services, for all of those, based on data, we are the worst in Scotland and most recently there is a threat to our hospital staffing," said Dr Baird.
"The most egregious part of this is that in 2002 we were defined as being in the south-east of Scotland for cancer.
"That means that our cancer patients all have to go to Edinburgh and they pass within two miles of the Beatson and then go on for another hour.
"In terms of east West, and depending where you are regarding Glasgow, we are 30 miles (or 40) west by longitude.
"We are 85 miles SouthWest of Glasgow of which 30 to 40 is westing."
He said some women were being screened for breast cancer in Glasgow but those with more advanced disease are screened in Edinburgh and likened this to being "punished" for having a more serious stage of cancer.
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In 2000, he published a letter in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) which showed that people with cancer in his area were travelling long distances for treatment.
In some cases, he said, they were facing a three-hour journey to be told "there is nothing further we can do - put your affairs in order."
"If that was unavoidable, I would say, that's fine," said Dr Baird.
"All we are asking for is that people go to the nearest cancer centre and that is Glasgow."
It comes amid new plans which could see A&E and medical admissions cut at Galloway Community Hospital.
"That’s a population of 30,000 going 75 miles to attend A&E or for a medical admission," said Dr Baird. "The town (11,000 population) seems to be served by one full-time GP and some locums."
In 2008, medics, including Dr Baird, showed that half of the people in Scotland who must travel more than three hours to a cancer centre were in West Galloway.
There was an almost two-third reduction in attendance among those who travelled more than three hours for appointments.
Dr Baird said he was at one point assured by health board leaders "despite 14 undelivered promises" that patients would be told that they had the option to have treatment in Glasgow.
"Unfortunately, since then, Glasgow has apparently stopped taking extra referrals," he said.
He mentions one woman he looked after 26 years ago who was travelling four hours for palliative care.
He said: "I called in and asked if there was anything I could do for her.
"As I went out the door, she said 'there is one thing - just make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else.'
"What is depressing is the system that has allowed that to develop and be sustained is now being applied to other areas like maternity."
Oliver Mundell, Conservative MSP for Dumfriesshire, called on new Health Secretary Neil Gray to "urgently address" the issue.
He said: “Patients in Dumfries and Galloway should have much greater flexibility over where they can be treated – including in neighbouring Carlisle – wherever possible.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said: "We want people to be treated as close to home as clinically appropriate, however as treatments become more complex, particularly in relation to cancer and maternity, it becomes impossible to deliver them in every location.
“For cancer patients wishing to travel to Glasgow instead of Edinburgh, NHS Dumfries & Galloway will support them to use the Glasgow pathway, subject to available capacity and access to their appropriate treatment."
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