WIREDGOV

Steady improvements welcomed by Health Secretary

Waiting times for cancer treatment continue to improve, figures released today show.

In the last three months of 2014, 94.2 per cent of patients started cancer treatment within 62 days of being referred, and 97.5 per cent of patients started treatment within 31 days from the decision to treat.

This compares to 93.5 per cent of patients treated against the 62 Day Standard and 96.7 per cent treated against the 31 Day Standard between July and September last year.

Health Secretary Shona Robison welcomed the steady rise in the number of patients starting cancer treatment more quickly, but said more needed to be done to ensure no-one was waiting unnecessarily.

Ms Robison said: “For any patient who receives a diagnosis of cancer it can be an extremely difficult time, and getting fast access to specialist treatment is vitally important.

“I welcome the figures published today which show a third successive increase in the number of patients seen within the target period. Between October and December last year, the median wait for patients between the date of decision to treat and the first cancer treatment was under a week and this is testament to the commitment of NHS staff across Scotland.

“The quality of cancer care is something that, as a country, we value deeply and it is why the Scottish Government has been working to ensure people get access to treatment as quickly as possible, within the stringent targets we set ourselves.

“Last year we put in place a support team to closely monitor health boards’ performance and act where problems were identified. This team has visited health boards and supported them to make the changes needed to reduce waiting times, as well as facilitating the sharing of best practice across the country.

“This decisive action, coupled with a £2.5 million investment in June to build diagnostic and treatment capacity, is now starting to show real improvements in waiting times.

“However there is clearly still more work to be done and with an increasing number of people being diagnosed with cancer putting additional pressure on services, we will continue to support boards to sustain performance and make further improvements where needed.”

Notes To Editors

The Scottish Government target is that:

• 95 per cent of patients urgently referred with a suspicion of cancer will wait a maximum of 62 days from referral to first cancer treatment.
• 95 per cent of all patients, regardless of route of referral, will wait a maximum of 31 days from decision to treat to first cancer treatment

During the period October to December 2014, the median wait between the date of decision to treat and the first cancer treatment was six days, with 90 per cent of patients waiting 25 days or less.

During the period October to December 2014, the median wait across Scotland between the receipt of an urgent referral with a suspicion of cancer to first cancer treatment was 37 days, with 90 per cent of all eligible patients waiting 60 days or less.

The ISD publication ‘Cancer Waiting Times in Scotland – October to December 2014’ is available online:http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Waiting-Times/Publications/index.asp#1379