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Breast Cancer Lottery: the 9-Month Wait for Treatment Charities Protest at Hospital Delays

Posted on: Monday, 19 December 2005, 06:00 CST

By HELEN PUTTICK HEALTH CORRESPONDENT

PATIENTS with breast cancer are having to wait for up to nine months for treatment in Scotland.

Figures published today show the full true extent of the postcode lottery facing women with the disease.

The first hospital-by-hospital breakdown of this year's waiting time figures shows that the longest delay was at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, where a woman urgently referred by her GP waited 276 days before treatment, nearly 40 weeks.

At three other hospitals, patients queued for four months or more before they began cancer treatment.

Leading charities yesterday expressed concern about the huge variation in the swiftness of care, with waiting times jumping not only from city to city but between hospitals within the same health board area.

The maximum wait at Monklands Hospital in Airdrie was 140 days, while the maximum wait at Hairmyres Hospital in East Kilbride was 39. Both are run by NHS Lanarkshire.

Lorraine Dallas, head of the charity Breast Cancer Care Scotland, said: "These apparently huge variations in the time that patients with urgent referrals are being forced to wait for treatment in Scotland are simply unacceptable.

"Patients should get the care they need regardless of where they live. Every day we support people just diagnosed or waiting for referrals and so we know what a difficult and anxious time this is for them and their families.

"To successfully identify and fight breast cancer it is essential that patients get the medical attention and treatment they need as quickly as possible. Any delay only adds to a patient's stress and confusion and can reduce the chance for effective treatment."

The figures cast further doubt on whether the Scottish Executive will achieve the target it set in 2001 - of treating every cancer patient within 62 days of an urgent GP referral by the end of this year.

At some centres, such as the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley, the maximum wait between January and July was 35 days and the median wait little more than two weeks.

However, the maximum wait at the Victoria Infirmary in Glasgow was 128 days and the median wait nearly six weeks.

NHS Grampian predicts it will achieve the goal for threequarters of breast cancer sufferers this month. A number of other hospitals, such as Borders General in Melrose, met the target for everyone in the first six months of this year.

Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP deputy leader, said: "It is just not acceptable that there continues to be a postcode lottery for breast cancer treatment. Three years after the target being set there is still a high proportion of women waiting over two months."

She added: "The minister must now take personal responsibility for these disturbing figures and clearly state how he is going to deliver on the executive's promises."

Ms Dallas and Jenny Whelan, head of CancerBACUP Scotland, which supports cancer patients and their families, also called on the executive to ensure that the target was delivered.

Andy Kerr, health minister, said: "We recognise that there are variations in each health board area. To some extent that is to be expected, as every patient has individual treatment needs.

"It is an incredibly complex process to collect this patient information. But, by setting and monitoring targets we can ensure that, as far as possible, waiting times are kept to an absolute minimum and that there is greater consistency for patients across the country."

Mr Kerr stressed that the figures released covered the period until the end of June. In the same month, plans for meeting the waiting times target were agreed between health boards and the Scottish Executive. Mr Kerr said he would be monitoring performance against these closely.

Source: Herald, The; Glasgow (UK)

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