Professor John Robertson OBA

I used to teach Research Methods to BA Journalism students. Nice kids with ambitions to helpfully inform readers. I worry for them now. Corporate and state media care little for informing, seek only to attract readers with scares and titillation and, must surely damage the mental health of those who work within.

First, that claim – Wait times for cervical examinations increase in all but one health area since 2019 – is based on a Labour Freedom of Information request with the results edited to pick out this negative example and fed to uncritical media but not published for scrutiny.

From the official published figures, Cancer waiting times, 1 July to 30 September 2024, (latest data) you can see that while there was a reduction in the percentage treated within 62 days, in the West of Scotland, an increased number were seen in many other areas.

More important but ignored by the Scotsman, the wider facts on cancer treatment in Scotland

The facts, first on all cancers:

In the Guardian on 3 February 2025:

More than half a million people in England have had to wait longer than two months for essential cancer treatment, analysis of latest NHS figures has shown. It has led experts to suggest thousands more patients will die unnecessarily unless the NHS gets to grips quickly with the delays.

Analysis of new NHS figures by Radiotherapy UK shows that in the decade to November 2024, 506,335 cancer patients in England waited more than 62 days for treatment. International research shows that every four weeks of delay in cancer treatment increases the risk of death by up to 10%. But the NHS has not met its target for 85% of cancer patients to start treatment within 62 days since December 2015 – currently, only 69% begin treatment within the two-month target.¹

The implication of the above is that around 50 000 died due to waiting time delays.

Based on that, we might, BBC Scotland would, estimate around 5 000 died because they waited too long in Scotland.

The latest 62 day waiting times figure for Scotland, September 2024, was 72.1%.²

The equivalent figure for NHS England, was 65%.³

NHS Scotland, after 17 years of SNP rule, is thus performing around 11% better (10.9) and, so, crudely based on the Guardian claims above, has saved 500 lives while NHS England has lost 5 000 lives due to the consequences of Conservative Party underfunding and varied other forms of mismanagement.

Sources:

1. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/feb/03/england-essential-cancer-treatment-wait-nhs
2. https://www.gov.scot/publications/nhsscotland-performance-against-ldp-standards/pages/cancer-waiting-times/
3. https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/cancer-waiting-times/cancer-waiting-times-1-july-to-30-september-2024/

The facts, second on ovarian cancer:

Two deeply upsetting reports in the Daily Record today, I know, but you cannot base an evaluation of a service treating almost 500 patients every year, thousands in the last few years, on the experience of two.

You can see from the above, latest data, that several waiting time targets are beaten year after year, that 7 out of 11 targets are met and that the others, especially the very important numbers 9 and 10, come close.

This enabled an evaluation, based on evidence, of:

The QPI results indicate that overall, the quality of ovarian cancer services across Scotland is excellent, particularly in relation to CT or MRI prior to commencing treatment, complete pathology reporting, achieving no residual disease following surgery (or delayed surgery following chemotherapy) for advanced disease and no 30-day mortality following surgery. There remains room for further service improvement around first-line chemotherapy, surgery for advanced disease and referral for genetic testing. https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/ovarian-cancer-quality-performance-indicators/ovarian-cancer-quality-performance-indicators-patients-diagnosed-from-october-2019-to-september-2022/

Meanwhile in England, NHS in England drops cancer waiting time targets: https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=England+ovarian+cancer+waiting+times+scandal&mid=FA82FC823FD6612E7A44FA82FC823FD6612E7A44&FORM=VIRE