NEW figures have revealed that between July and September 2024, NHS Dumfries and Galloway failed to meet cancer treatment targets.
The Scottish Government’s standard states that 95 per cent of eligible patients should wait no longer than 62 days from urgent suspicion of cancer referral to first cancer treatment.
In this region, 83.6 per cent of patients were treated within 62 days. This is down by 5.4 per cent compared to the same period in 2023.
And when looking specifically at urology prostrate cancer waiting times, the percentage treated within 62 days was just 46.4 per cent in the region, down from 75 per cent the previous year. The figures were released by Public Health Scotland on Tuesday
South Scotland MSP Colin Smyth has called the missed targets a ‘serious concern’.
He said: “Receiving a cancer diagnosis is stressful enough, but this failure to meet treatment standards yet again also means that precious time to beat cancer starts slipping away.
“In Dumfries and Galloway, the urology prostrate figures are particularly concerning.
“The impact of staffing issues highlighted by health boards is a reminder that the Scottish Government’s failure to recruit and retain NHS staff not only affects the taxpayer, but the patients who are at the heart of our health service.
“Far too many people are waiting far too long to get the cancer care that they desperately need while SNP government targets are broken across the area.
“Cancer is Scotland’s biggest killer, and we know that early detection and treatment leads to better outcomes – but the fact is that the SNP government’s failure to support NHS staff is creating a cancer care time bomb.”
