Labour will fix SNP’s cancer treatment waiting times ‘mess’, vows Sarwar

Scottish Labour will fix the SNP Government’s “mess” on cancer care, Anas Sarwar has said, warning more than 35,000 patients have received treatment later than they should have.

The Labour leader said on Friday the SNP has fallen short on “basic standards”.

Analysis from Scottish Labour shows 35,048 patients have waited more than 62 days for a referral since 2012 – which is the last year the target was met.

The 62-day treatment standard states 95% of eligible patients should wait no longer than 62 days from an urgent referral to their first cancer treatment.

Labour has vowed to rectify the problem by introducing more rapid cancer diagnostic services, while improving screening for cervical and other forms of cancer.

The party has also pledged to create a pilot prostate cancer screening programme and targeted lung cancer screening.

Mr Sarwar said: “The reality is that early diagnosis and treatment is crucial if you are going to save more lives, so the later a patient is diagnosed, the later they start their treatment, the bigger the risk in terms of their life expectancy and their survival rate.

“We will make sure that we have a cancer system that works – that includes rapid diagnostic centres. People will be able to get their diagnosis as soon as possible, and people will be able to access their treatment as soon as possible.

“Those basic standards have not been met by the SNP Government.

“We will fix their mess, make sure we’re getting the basics right, and confront Scotland’s biggest killer, which remains cancer.”

SNP candidate for Rutherglen and Cambuslang, Clare Haughey said: “The reality is that under the SNP we are treating more patients with cancer on time, within both standards, compared to pre-pandemic and 10 years ago.

“We’ve seen improvements consistently for the last four quarters, with 95.6% of patients being treated within 31 days and the median wait for treatment just two days – the joint lowest on record.

“We’ve introduced single point of contact care which benefited over 30,000 cancer patients last year, have introduced at home cervical screening and our rapid cancer diagnostic services are giving people a much faster diagnosis after referral, but we are determined to do more.

“While Labour continually talks down our NHS, our plan for the NHS is working – waiting times down nine months in a row, thousands more operations and GP walk-in centres opening all over Scotland.”