Cancer waiting targets 'not met'

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The NHS in Scotland is still failing to hit a cancer waiting time target set in 2000, new figures have revealed.

The target, which has never been met, requires that 95% of cancer patients begin treatment within 62 days of being urgently referred.

In the three months to June, 93.5% of patients got treatment within 62 days.

This compared with a figure of 94.1% in the previous quarter. It was, however, well above the figure of 87.3% for the three months to June last year.

Grampian health board had the worst performance, with 89.9% of cancer patients being treated within 62 days, while Greater Glasgow fared little better at 90.8%.

But five health boards have been treating all cancer patients within 62 days - the Argyll and Clyde part of the Highland area, Orkney, Shetland, the Western Isles and Borders.

HEALTH BOARD WAITING TIMES Argyll and Clyde (Greater Glasgow) - 96.6%Argyll and Clyde (Highland) - 100%Ayrshire and Arran - 91.3%Borders - 100%Dumfries and Galloway - 94.3%Fife - 91.7%Forth Valley - 95.5%Grampian - 89.9%Greater Glasgow - 90.8%Highland - 96%Lanarkshire - 93.7%Lothian - 95.3%Orkney - 100%Shetland - 100%Tayside - 95.3%Western Isles - 100% Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said the latest statistics showed improvement but that there was still more to do.

"Figures for the same quarter last year revealed just how much boards needed to do to meet the target originally set in 2000 to quicken the timescale for patients to get their treatment," she said.

"The figures published today show vast improvement on that position, helping us to see that the majority of patients diagnosed with cancer who were urgently referred are getting their treatment within two months."

She said the 62-day target had been met or exceeded by 11 of the country's 14 health boards in one or more of the last four quarters.

But she added: "We're almost there but improvements still need to be made to ensure the target is being met in full in every board across Scotland."

Ms Sturgeon pointed out that the Lothian and Lanarkshire health boards had been able to record improvements of 10 and 18 percentage points over the past year.

More pressure

However, Labour's Cathy Jamieson said the figures were "deeply disappointing".

"The SNP's poor budget settlement might be one reason for the deterioration in performance," she said.

Tory health spokeswoman Mary Scanlon said the Scottish Government must "raise its game" in encouraging earlier diagnosis and treatment.

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Ross Finnie called for more pressure on boards missing the targets.

The health secretary last month announced a drive for faster treatment for cancer, with the 62-day target being widened to take in all patients who screened positive in national screening programmes.

As part of the drive for faster cancer treatment, by 2011 all patients diagnosed with cancer, however they come to be referred, should receive treatment within 31 days from the decision to treat.