Moray MP Douglas Ross says it is “appalling” that a cancer patient in NHS Grampian had to wait over five months to begin chemotherapy treatment.
The “shocking” discovery was uncovered through a Freedom of Information Request by the Scottish Conservatives.
Douglas recently challenged SNP First Minister Humza Yousaf at First Minister’s Questions on the matter, given the SNP Government’s target is for 95 per cent of patients to be treated within two months of being diagnosed.
Instead, the patient in NHS Grampian had to wait 156 days to start treatment. Across Scotland, only 73.7 per cent of cancer patients started treatment within 62 days in the most recent statistics, with the target having not been met since 2012.
Douglas says his thoughts are with the patient who had to endure the 156-day delay, adding that starting treatment as quickly as possible gives a patient the best chance of survival.
He added that the SNP Government have failed to remobilise frontline services in Scotland’s NHS – including NHS Grampian – since the pandemic and patients are paying the price for those failures.
Douglas said: “It is utterly appalling that a patient with cancer based in the NHS Grampian area had to wait over five months to begin chemotherapy treatment.
“Starting treatment as early as possible is crucial to a cancer patient’s chances of survival, but this shocking discovery shows that in some cases, that is simply not occurring on the SNP’s watch.
“That is why I challenged SNP First Minister Humza Yousaf on the matter in the Scottish Parliament. His government have not met their cancer waiting time target for over a decade now.
“As health secretary Humza Yousaf’s flimsy NHS recovery plan failed to remobilise frontline services in the health service including here in NHS Grampian. Suffering patients are paying the price for those overwhelming failures.
“It is barely believable that any patient could wait over five months to start treatment. These findings must be an urgent wake-up call for the SNP-Green government to properly fund NHS Grampian so dedicated staff can have all the resources they need to treat patients as quickly as possible.”