The backlog of cancer patients waiting for operations in Scotland is a "national emergency", Anas Sarwar claimed today.
The Scottish Labour leader spoke out after highlighting the case of a grandmother from Glasgow at last night’s televised leaders' debate.
Mary Hudson, a retired shop assistant from Springboig, is being forced to travel to London for NHS surgery after her ovarian cancer returned, her daughter said.
The family claim they were informed that Glasgow Royal Infirmary was only currently providing operations for first occurrences of cancer.
Official figures show that over the last three months of 2020 there were 485 people who waited longer than two months to start their cancer treatment, despite being urgently referred.
Labour said this proved the SNP was failing to meet the waiting time standard for urgent referrals.
An estimated 7,000 people in Scotland are believed to be living with undiagnosed cancer as a result of the pandemic’s impact on cancer services.
Scottish Labour has unveiled a plan for Rapid Diagnostic Centres which the party says would mean patients with symptoms could get a diagnosis in days.
Sarwar said: “The backlog for cancer treatment in Scotland is now a national emergency.
“There are thousands of missing patients and there needs to be an urgent plan to address this crisis, including rapid diagnostic centres and a catch-up plan for screenings by increasing staff and processing capacity to clear the backlog within a year.
“It is a scandal that patients like Mary are having to travel hundreds of miles for surgery, and my thoughts are with her and her family.
“We have no idea how many other families are going through similar trauma.
“The pandemic has had a devastating impact on cancer services, but the problems were there before Covid struck.
“The SNP has not met the waiting time standard for urgent referrals for nearly a decade.
“The next parliament must be fully focused on a national recovery plan for our NHS so that we never again have to choose between treating a virus or treating cancer.”
Mary Hudson’s daughter Julie Goedkoop, a mortgage representative from Uddingston, said: "We were absolutely determined to ensure mum receives surgery.
“But it’s unbelievable that she has to travel all the way to London for it. We are raising her case so that we can help others in the same situation.
“How many women have been told they can’t have an operation and have just said OK?”
Speaking at last night's debate, Nicola Sturgeon said that five years ago she committed to investing £500 million into the NHS over the life of the parliament.
The First Minister added: “We’ve now done over three times that, not including the Covid investment. That’s a sign of the way we were investing, reforming, integrating health and social care to start to bring down waiting times.
“Covid stuck and has had a devastating impact on the ability of our NHS.
“It has performed magnificently, but to deal with non-Covid cases. We are right now working on the plans to bring to bare temporary operating facilities, mobile units, to quickly bring down the backlog."
Jeane Freeman, who will stand down as health secretary at May's election, said: “A diagnosis of cancer is a deeply painful and worrying time for individuals and their families. That's why we prioritised cancer care as part of the recovery from the pandemic so that cancer patients have and will continue to receive treatment.
"Unlike Labour rather than just talking about how we restore our NHS the SNP is already taking action. Our established Cancer Recovery Plan, backed by £114.5million, will ensure cancer patients continue to have equitable access to care in Scotland, regardless of where they live.
"We will initially pilot three fast track cancer diagnostic centres, to be followed by a full rollout to every health board area by the end of the parliament.
"It's welcome that Labour are backing our plans for fast track diagnostics centres, which the SNP Government has already invested £600,000 to develop the new service. We hope that Labour have learned the lessons of the last election where they offered the lowest level of investment in our NHS of any party - lower than even the Tories."
