Yet another example of the failure of socialized medicine....

Revealed: the true scale of NHS cancer waiting times

THE shocking extent of cancer treatment delays in Scotland has been revealed in official new figures.

Despite repeated promises and billions of pounds invested, the hospital-by-hospital breakdown reveals some patients are waiting more than a year between GP referral and treatment.

Ministers last night admitted the situation was "unacceptable". Health minister Andy Kerr ordered health boards to explain the lengthy delays and widespread variations.

But one of Europe's leading cancer specialists, Professor Gordon McVie, said the NHS could provide "no excuses" for routinely delaying potentially life-saving treatment.

And one health board, NHS Lothian, issued an unreserved apology for a bowel cancer patient waiting over 300 days between referral and treatment.

Cancer claims the lives of 15,000 Scots every year, and one in three people will fall prey to the disease. Ministers have made combating cancer one of their top health priorities, and rapid treatment is seen as an essential plank in that strategy.

• Eighteen out of 32 hospitals forced bowel cancer patients to wait an average of two months or more to receive treatment. In the most extreme case, a patient at Monklands hospital in Airdrie was finally treated 335 days after being referred for treatment by a GP.

• Patients diagnosed with bladder, prostate and kidney cancer suffered extraordinary delays. The 13 patients treated at Glasgow Royal Infirmary waited an average of 168 days for treatment. A patient at Falkirk and District Royal Infirmary waited 379 days.

• Six breast cancer patients at Belford hospital, Inverness, waited an average of 80 days before getting treatment for a disease that becomes virtually incurable if it spreads.

Brian Cavanagh, chairman of NHS Lothian, said: "This is completely unacceptable. I have already asked for a report into how this occurred and have asked for an assurance from the University Hospital Division that it will not happen again."

Mike Grieve, Director of Operations, University Hospitals Division, NHS Lothian, added: "I would like to apologise unreservedly for this lengthy delay."

"Long waits are unacceptable. If a patient's condition demands immediate access to treatment, I would expect that need to be recognised by clinicians and acted upon appropriately. Patients should be diagnosed and have their treatment according to their individual clinical need and personal needs."

Professor Gordon McVie, consultant to the European Institute of Oncology, said: "For the majority of common cancers there is cut-and-dried, five-star evidence to suggest that delay in treatment will affect prognosis and the likelihood of a cure." Full story.