This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Cancer waiting times
17/05/2006
Despite improvements in performance on breast and lung cancer waits, NHS Boards have much work to do to meet cancer targets which came into force from January 2006, the Health Minister Andy Kerr said.
Final figures for Boards in the period leading up to the start of the target, October to December 2005, show waiting times improving for breast, lung and lymphoma cancers, but with a flat overall performance compared to the previous quarter.
Mr Kerr said:
"Cancer waiting times performance across the NHS isn't good enough. Personally, I find that very frustrating and I know how distressing it is for those people who have to wait longer than they should for treatment. Although it's welcome that more than ever we are beating cancer, it's still extremely distressing to wait long times for treatment.
"Although it is a credit to the NHS in Scotland that we are continuing to increase cancer survival across the board, it is still taking too long for the extra investment that we promised, and have delivered, to translate into real benefits for patients in this area.
"We now have 300 more doctors, nurses and other health professionals working in cancer care than when we started in 2001. We have replaced old equipment and put in extra new imaging and radiotherapy equipment. Every Board has a cancer delivery plan to work on.
"I expect to see all this delivering results. Nevertheless, even more targeted action is needed. We have established a specialist support team of clinicians and other experienced professionals to work with Boards to turn around poor performance on bowel cancer, the most difficult cancer service to tackle.
"In addition, to ensure real improvements are delivered, three Service Improvement Managers will be employed across the country to work directly with cancer networks and operational teams to help to deliver significant improvements in cancer waiting times. Waiting times must improve. Patients deserve no less."
"Of course, there are some patients who will require very specialised care, where it is desirable to have more time between investigations. We should not push these patients through systems just to meet the target and that is why I announced last week 95 per cent performance would be a more appropriate target to allow for such clinically appropriate delays. This provides the leeway that is needed to develop the right diagnostic and treatment plans in the most complex cases."
Bob Masterton, Lead Clinician, West of Scotland Cancer Network, said:
"Cancer care improvements are a real success story in Scotland and there is more that we must do. There have been significant improvements in making it easier for patients to access the right services. Dedicated resources are now ensuring the patient pathway is monitored on a step by step basis to minimise delays and new working methods mean that extended role practitioners are better able to get patients through to treatment as speedily as possible. All of this is set against a background where the quality of care at every step is paramount."
The target is that from December 31 2005 the maximum wait from urgent referral to treatment for all cancers will be two months. Performance against the target for the October to December 2005 quarter is listed below, with the previous quarter in brackets:
- Breast cancer 84 per cent (81 per cent)
- Lung cancer 80 per cent (77 per cent)
- Ovarian cancer 92 per cent (92 per cent)
- Colorectal cancer 63 per cent (67 per cent)
- Melanoma 84 per cent (86 per cent)
- Lymphoma 66 per cent (64 per cent)
- Urology 61 per cent (64 per cent)
- Upper GI 72 per cent (76 per cent)
- Head & Neck 63 per cent (70 per cent)
- All Scotland 74 per cent (75 per cent)