EXCLUSIVE: The horror figure was revealed amid an ongoing row over long waits for cancer treatment.
Patients are facing long waits for cancer treatment
An NHS patient waited over 400 days to start investigations for suspected prostate cancer. Another Scot waited 352 days with possible bowel cancer.
The shock figures were obtained by Labour amid a continuing row over cancer waiting times. Under a treatment standard, 95% of patients should wait no more than 62 days from urgent suspicion of cancer referral to first cancer treatment.
Waiting times showed a slight improvement between July and September this year, but no Scottish health board met the 95% target. In his Daily Record column, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar revealed new figures on long waits:
“Behind the SNP’s tired slogans and spin, the truth is brutal: cancer patients are being left to wait, worry and suffer. One Scot waited 419 days just to start investigations for suspected prostate cancer. Another waited 352 days with possible bowel cancer.”
READ MORE: Scottish Labour MP performed kidney transplant on Christmas Day to give patient the ‘gift’ of lifeREAD MORE: Over 20,000 Scots died waiting for NHS care during Neil Gray’s time as health secretary
“That’s not a backlog – that’s abandonment. While ministers boast, families count the days, the weeks, the months, praying the disease hasn’t spread while the clock ticks on.
“The rules are clear. Two months to be seen. One month to start treatment. Yet patients are waiting a year. Some longer.
“And for those already diagnosed, the nightmare continues – eight months for prostate cancer treatment, over three months for breast cancer.”
He added: “Imagine being told you have cancer, then being told to wait. And wait. And wait.
“This didn’t happen overnight. The SNP hasn’t met its own cancer treatment targets in over a decade. Diagnostic waiting lists are climbing again – more than 150,000 Scots stuck waiting for vital tests. Every delay risks lives.”
Separate data was released before Christmas on another treatment standard.
This states that 95% of patients should wait no longer than 31 days from decision to treat to first cancer treatment.
It showed 95.1% of patients started treatment within 31 days, compared with 95.3% in the previous quarter.
Across the 15 Scottish health boards, 11 met this target.
SNP Health Secretary Neil Gray said: “Our performance against the 31-day standard has remained strong at 95.1%, with patients starting treatment within 31 days of a decision to treat. The median wait for treatment is just 2 days – the joint lowest on record.
“But we know there is more work to do and we want to drive further improvement and are working hard to address challenges in high volume pathways.”