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Professor John Robertson OBA
The Daily Express today has a front page of awesome dishonesty, of an order that a Nazi propagandist might have baulked at:
SCOTLAND LAGS ‘SERIOUSLY’ FOR CANCER TREATMENT
I’ve no idea who said ‘SERIOUSLY’ but I doubt their reliability.
As the Express leads, low IQ-style, with the total number increase, Here are the facts about that:
First, the RISK of dying from cancer in Scotland fell by 11%
From the Public Health Scotland report which the Express has based its distortions on:
In 2022 the European Standardised Rate (EASR), or the risk of dying from cancer in Scotland, decreased by 11.1% compared to 2013 (from 333.7 to 296.8 per 100,000 population respectively).
However, despite this decline in risk, the number of deaths due to cancer has increased by 3.2% (to 16,265 from 15,764 in 2013). This largely reflects an increase in the proportion of older age groups within the population, and the fact that cancer is more common among older people.
Might they at the Express get this?
More people died from cancer in Scotland because there are just more people in Scotland than there were and more of them have lived long enough to get the cancers which older people are more likely to develop because they have lived longer! What matters is the rate!
Second, NHS Scotland treats cancer patients quicker and so cannot be lagging behind.
NHS Scotland:
In Q1 2025 (January–March), 94.1% of patients started treatment within 31 days and 68.9% of patients started treatment within 62 days.
NHS England:
In June 2025, 91.7% of patients started treatment within 31 days and 67.1% of patients started treatment within 62 days.
https://news.cancerresearchuk.org/2025/08/14/cancer-waiting-times-latest-updates-and-analysis/
So, NHS Scotland performing significantly better and remember that around 2% difference means around 1 000 more patients treated on time in Scotland and around 10 000 more not treated on time in England.
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
The times pan of this report covers the first years of the Covid-19 pandemic.
we know the Sars-Cov2 virus can affect/damage the lungs – eg blot clots so if you have lung cancer what does that do to survival chances?
we also know it can weaken the immune system as does the chemotherapy used to treat lung cancer making them more susceptible to infections. Effect on survival rates?
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