Cancer treatment waiting times across Ayrshire ‘reveal a system that is suffering’, says an MSP.
Figures from the Public Health Scotland’s quarterly release flagged that between January 1 and March 31, 77.3 percent of Ayrshire patients began receiving treatment within the required 62-day standard — almost 18 percent below the 95 percent government-set target.
The 62-day standard, which was only met by NHS Borders, states that 95 percent of eligible patients should wait a maximum of 62 days from urgent suspicion of cancer referral to first cancer treatment.
The health board did, however, meet the 31-day standard, ensuring 97.4 percent of patients were treated within 31 days from decision to treat to first cancer treatment, exceeding the 95 percent target.
Tory MSP Sharon Dowey has expressed her concerns over the recent figures and called on Health Secretary Humza Yousaf to promptly address the issue.
Mrs Dowey said: “The SNP Government continues to fail the residents of Ayrshire and the SNP Health Secretary still hasn’t come up with a solid plan.
“This is necessary to reduce cancer waiting times and prevent lives from being lost.
“Despite the tireless efforts of our NHS, these most recent statistics reveal a system that is suffering and unable to keep up with demand.
“Humza Yousaf has to address this issue immediately. He must explain his strategy for clearing the NHS Ayrshire & Arran’s mounting backlog and guaranteeing that patients are seen within the target waiting times.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said the government were looking at ways to improve the cancer treatment waiting times, adding that the 31-day standard “has been consistently met throughout the Covid-19 pandemic with a median wait of four days.”
They added: “However, the 62-day standard remains challenging for this quarter with a median wait of 47 days and we must do more.
“We are investing in ways to support cancer waiting times improvements, including up-skilling nurses, investing in diagnostic tests focussing on the most challenging pathways to reduce backlogs.
“We have also established three pilot Early Cancer Diagnostic Centres (ECDC) to provide primary care with a new referral route for patients with non-specific symptoms of cancer and are supporting boards to implement the Framework for Effective Cancer Management to ensure patients receive timely care and treatment.”
Joanne Edwards, director of acute services, agreed that the health board’s achievement of the national target “has been challenging”.
She said: “While this is not linked to a single specific issue, every patient’s journey is tracked through the cancer pathway and capacity in the diagnostic services has been adversely affected by the restrictions brought about by the pandemic and the sustained increase in referrals.
“Should a patient receive a cancer diagnosis, we ensure that they receive their treatment as quickly as possible, and we consistently achieve above the Scottish standard of 95 percent for the 31-day measure (confirmed diagnosis to treatment) and regularly achieve 100 percent compliance on this.”
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