A key national target for the NHS to treat urgent cancer patients within two months has been met, the Scottish Government has announced.
An average of 95.4% of urgently referred patients began treatment within two months - just beating the target of 95%. It is the first time the target, set in 2001 and due to be achieved by 2005, has been met.
According to official figures, between October and December last year there were 2,368 urgent referrals and of those, 2,258 began their treatment within the target time of 62 days. The target average was not met for all types of cancer, including colorectal cancers, lymphoma and melanoma.
Two months is a great deal of time to wait for treatment if you've been diagnosed with cancer. Most European countries are far speedier and we ought to be aiming towards a 4 week maximum wait. A friend, who lives in France, was diagnosed with breast cancer the week before Christmas. Her treatment, not privately funded, started the second week in January - a wait of less than 3 weeks.
So we could do much better but it is good to know there has been an improvement.
Source: BBC
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4 comments:
The French health system is, according to WHO, the best in the world, and I suspect that the 3 week delay may have had something to do with the time of year it was diagnosed. Mind you they pay a good deal more for it than we do.
Without control over taxes it would be really hard for the Scottish government to aspire to their level of care, but I agree that we should continue to strive towards that. It simply isn't good enough for someone with a diagnosis of cancer to be left to wait for treatment and worry.
Tris she was offered Christmas Eve for her operation but decided she'd rather wait until after all the festivities as her specialist said two weeks wouldn't matter. Her husband would have preferred her to have it right away because he said the waiting was awful for him and he's usually a really quiet chap.
Ah yes, that sounds about right.
I was half listening to something on the radio the other day that said that, in the case of breast cancer at least, by the time there is any indication that there is cancer, ie a lump, I guess, it has already been there for a very long time (I'm sure they said something like a year, although I was only half listening). The doctor being interviewed indicated that a few weeks' delay was not in the least important. Bu that may not be true for all cancers and we know that in the UK, there have been cases where the delay has been fatal.
Plenty cases where delay is fatal I'm sure Tris. Also two months could possibly seem like 2 years if you were the sufferer. It would scramble even the most positive brain.
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