Call for action on breast cancer treatment and diagnosis after targets missed

Opposition parties are calling for action on breast cancer after a report showed a number of diagnosis and treatment targets were missed.

Figures from Public Health Scotland (PHS) showed there were 5,506 women diagnosed with breast cancer in 2023, up from 5,192 the previous year.

But across Scotland, only nine out of 17 “quality performance indicator” targets were met that year.

The Optimal Time to Radiotherapy Treatment was missed by a wide margin – with a performance of 25.4% recorded against a target of 80%.

Scottish Labour Health spokesperson Jackie Baillie said: “This shocking report must be a call to action.

“Breast cancer is on the rise but far too many women are still not getting the standard of care they deserve.

“Swift treatment can mean the difference between life and death and more must be done to meet these standards.”

Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “With so many targets being missed, and some by a very wide margin, the government’s cancer strategy risks ringing hollow.

“Patients deserve swift and effective care. We know this can be a matter of life and death, with early intervention being crucial to chances of survival.

“Staff and patients are tired of being continually failed by a government that can’t match its words with action.”

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “We welcome the performance against the new indicator which measures recurrence rates, with all three targets met, as well as improvements in genomic testing and delivery of neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

“However, we recognise there are patients who have waited too long for reconstructive breast surgery.

“Breast reconstruction surgery includes some highly specialised complex surgeries and at the current time, plastic surgery services are concentrating efforts on treating patients with trauma or active cancers.”

She continued: “As part of our £30 million additional investment to reduce waiting times, we have allocated funding to several health boards to treat patients awaiting risk-reducing mastectomy and immediate reconstruction.

“From our targeted funding to address waiting times in the 2025-26 budget, we have already committed to extending this funding for NHS Grampian and NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, with 13 delayed surgeries already completed in Grampian and further ones booked.”