A new plan promising to invest in cancer services to improve diagnosis and ensure patients get equal access regardless of where they live has been welcomed by charities, with calls for other parts of the UK to follow Scotland’s lead.

The strategy, unveiled yesterday, set out a raft of commitments set to be rolled out before March 2023.

Among them is a pledge to spend £3m on new fast-track cancer diagnostic centres, where patients with non-specific symptoms can be referred for multiple tests in one go.

Bowel Cancer UK said additional funding for diagnostic services was “much-needed” after covid-19 had led to a significant rise in numbers waiting for endoscopies, which can detect the cancer.

It comes as one of the UK’s leading surgeons calls for more of these procedures to be done at Glasgow’s Louisa Jordan temporary hospital, which has not been used for virus patients.

Claire Donaghy, Head of External Affairs for the Devolved Nations at Bowel Cancer UK, says: “Bowel cancer patients have been affected at all stages of the diagnostic and treatment pathway due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“While health boards across the country had made significant improvements to the waiting time target for endoscopies – procedures which can diagnose bowel cancer – covid-19 has led to a reversal of this trend.

“We’re now, once again, tackling an endoscopy crisis, with more than 10,000 people in Scotland waiting for these tests in September, more than triple the amount this time last year.”

However, questions have been raised over the strategy’s silence on long-term staffing shortages.

Macmillan’s Scotland spokeswoman Kate Seymour said changes and investment were needed more than ever, after the pandemic exposed an “over-stretched” workforce.

She said: “It’s not enough for the cancer care system to get back to the way it was before the pandemic, particularly when we expect a deluge of people into the system, diagnosed late with more advanced cancers that require more invasive treatment with longer term consequences for their physical, emotional and financial health.”

Cancer Research UK’s Scotland spokesperson added: “It isn’t clear how some of the biggest challenges facing cancer services today will be tackled.

“What we don’t see here is how to address the acute staff shortages that existed even before the pandemic struck.”

The plan was drawn up with input from a range of organisations working in the sector, including the Scottish Cancer Coalition, Cancer Research UK and the Less Survivable Cancers Taskforce.

Another commitment is to give cancer patients a single named contact to help them through the diagnosis and treatment journey.

There has been praise for the ‘additional focus’ promised on cancers that continue to have the highest death rates.

This includes research into whether new pathways for specific cancers are needed, starting with liver and pancreatic cancer.

Around 50% of all cancer deaths are from the six less survivable cancers – pancreatic, liver, brain, oesophageal and stomach – despite them representing a quarter of cases.

The chance of someone surviving five years on from being diagnosed with one of these cancers is just 16% – nearly four times lower than other types.

Commitments to address this death gap in the Scottish government’s cancer recovery plan have been described as “extremely encouraging” by the Less Survivable Cancers Taskforce.

Chair Anna Jewell said: “Our member and supporter charities are working tirelessly to close the deadly cancer gap and increase the survival rates for less survivable cancers.

“For this to happen we need all UK governments to follow Scotland’s lead and commit to cancer recovery plans which include a focus on less survivable cancers.

“In addition, we’re calling on all UK governments to make a significant investment to increase public awareness of symptoms, speed up treatment pathways, ensure good supportive care is in place and improve research and infrastructure services.

“It’s extremely encouraging to see the plans set out by the Scottish government today, despite the pressure facing the health services due to coronavirus and we welcome the focus on recovering cancer services in the aftermath of the pandemic.

“The measures will raise the survival prospects of the thousands of people diagnosed with cancers each year as well as addressing the disparity in survival rates for less survivable cancers.”

Dawn Crosby, Head of Scotland at Pancreatic Cancer UK, which is one of the Taskforce’s members, said the promise to improve outcomes was “long overdue and hugely significant”.

She said: “More than half of people diagnosed with this devastating disease die within three months of diagnosis. There is simply no time to wait with pancreatic cancer and this plan rightly recognises the need for urgency.

“Delays can cost patients their chance of having surgery, the only potentially lifesaving treatment for pancreatic cancer. That is why the commitments to increase GP access to CT-scans; pilot early diagnostic centres, where essential tests can be done one day, and the focus on improving the treatment pathway for patients are so welcome.

“Adequately funded and properly implemented, the steps in this plan have the potential to save many more lives from pancreatic cancer and other less survivable cancers.

"We urge the other UK governments to follow Scotland’s lead and prioritise improving the survival and quality of life of people affected by pancreatic cancer as they look beyond covid-19.”

 

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