It is unacceptable, that with all the advances in science, the disease is not being diagnosed and treated quicker. Get the latest top news stories sent straight to your inbox with our daily newsletter We have more newsletters Get the latest top news stories sent straight to your inbox with our daily newsletter We have more newsletters Scotland has some of the most highly-skilled cancer nurses and doctors in the world so it is shameful that we are not leading the world in tackling the disease . Instead, we are paying out millions of pounds to patients who are not getting diagnosed with the condition quicky enough or who are being misdiagnosed.
Targets to improve waiting times are there for a reason. It is widely known that the quicker cancer is detected the quicker it can be treated and stopped from spreading. If cancer is diagnosed at stage one or two, the chances of a positive outcome are far greater than if it is found at a later stage.
It is unacceptable, therefore, that with all the advances in science, the disease is not being diagnosed and treated quicker. There is no doubt Covid hit the NHS hard and cancer services were among those affected. But nurses such as Brenda Eadie are right to point out if staffing levels had been at acceptable levels before Covid, there would not have been such a drain on other areas of the health service.
The serious issues on cancer waiting times are down to poor leadership and political failure, and there must be a national mission to get .