Scotland is facing a cancer “timebomb on the SNP’s watch”, critics have warned, after new research revealed Scots face longer waiting times and lower treatment rates than other countries.
Patients waited on average more than two weeks longer for both chemotherapy and radiotherapy north of the border than people living in England.
The studies, carried out by the International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership (ICBP), co-funded by Cancer Research UK and published in The Lancet Oncology, showed lags compared with the rest of Britain, Norway and Australia.
Sandesh Gulhane, the Scottish Conservative health spokesman, said: “These damning studies expose the ticking timebomb Scotland is facing in relation to cancer cases on the SNP’s watch. It should be a source of shame for the SNP government that cancer patients here are waiting much longer to start treatment and have also received less treatment in the last five years.”
Patients in Scotland waited an average of 65 days to start chemotherapy and 79 days to begin a course of radiotherapy. This compared with 48 days and 63 days in England and 39 days and 44 days in Norway.
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Professor David Cameron, deputy chairman of the ICBP and chairman of the Scottish national systemic anti-cancer therapy programme board, said that ministers must now examine the data to “see why we appear to be different, and what we can do to improve the care offered here in Scotland”.
In Scotland, 29.3 per cent of patients received chemotherapy over a five-year period, compared with 42.1 per cent in Australia, 39.1 per cent in Norway, 31.9 per cent in England and 31.1 per cent in Wales.
Countries with better cancer survival typically had higher use of chemotherapy and radiotherapy and shorter waits to start treatment in this study.
Five-year survival for stage three colon cancer was higher in Norway (70.7 per cent), Australia (70.1 per cent) and Canada (69.9 per cent) than in Scotland (61.7 per cent). People living in Norway and Australia started their treatment for colon cancer in the quickest time.
Dr Sorcha Hume, Cancer Research UK’s public affairs manager for Scotland, said: “Scotland should be striving for world-leading cancer care. We believe that a great deal can be learnt from other countries who have stepped up and substantially improved cancer services in recent years.”
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The new research comes after official figures showed waiting times for people suspected of having cancer have worsened in Scotland, with a quarter of those urgently referred to specialists having to wait more than two months to start treatment.
Public Health Scotland data, published in December, showed that of the 4,624 Scots referred to specialists with an urgent suspicion of cancer between July and September last year, less than three-quarters (72 per cent) started treatment within the target time.
Chemotherapy and radiotherapy are key treatment options for patients diagnosed with cancer. Although some patients need time to prepare for treatment, others are forced to wait while cancers grow and spread, undermining the prospect of successful treatment.
There was stark variation in the treatment of all eight cancer types ― oesophageal, stomach, colon, rectal, liver, pancreatic, lung and ovarian cancer ― examined by the academics.
One striking factor was the low rates of older patients in Scotland treated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Just 1.5 per cent of those aged 85 and over in Scotland received chemotherapy, compared with 8.1 per cent in Australia and 14 per cent in Ontario, Canada. Researchers cautioned that more studies were required to examine whether this was the key link or if other factors, such as relatively unhealthy old age, played major roles.
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Dame Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour’s deputy leader and health spokeswoman, said: “It is simply wrong that Scots are receiving less cancer treatment than their neighbours in other parts of the UK. Cancer remains Scotland’s biggest killer ― but the SNP is failing to support our NHS to do its work.
“We cannot have a postcode lottery when it comes to cancer care. We need action to re-mobilise cancer care so that Scots get the treatment they need.”
The researchers from University College London examined data from more than 780,000 people with cancer diagnosed between 2012 and 2017.
The Scottish government published a ten-year cancer strategy last summer and said that the NHS’s performance has improved in recent years.
“Access to treatment for cancer is vital,” a spokeswoman said. “However, it is crucial that treatment decisions are aligned to patient choice and clinical judgement on what is best for individual patient outcomes.”
