Help Talking-up Scotland keep going

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From BBC Health today and on BBC Breakfast this morning, the above story and:

Alan was diagnosed with lung cancer after a nodule was found in June last year. The 70-year-old was meant to be operated on within weeks but ended up waiting nearly five months, by which time the cancer had spread, making his surgery more complex.

“I was so frustrated and angry and couldn’t understand why they would leave me like that,” says Alan.

On two occasions, scans were cancelled because machines had broken and for weeks he heard little or nothing from the hospital about when he would eventually have the urgent surgery. Alan is one of thousands each month in England who are not being treated within the target timeframe.

Earlier this year, the government’s National Cancer Plan, along with the NHS Planning Guidance, set out that 80% of patients in England would start treatment within 62 days from urgent GP referral by March 2027. This was to reach 85% by March 2029. But in the months since the government announced this ambition, performance has got worse, according to NHS England data, not better. Now, 69.9% of patients start cancer treatment within the 62 day timeframe. Previously it was 71.9%.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c93vderdkyvo

The media operating in Scotland have no interest in this. Here’s why:

From Cancer waiting times 1 January to 31 March 2026 (latest figures): 72.2% of patients started treatment within 62 days, compared with 72.6% in the previous quarter:

https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/cancer-waiting-times/cancer-waiting-times-1-january-to-31-march-2026/

So, NHS Scotland is treating 2.3% more within the 62-day target?

Only 2.3% more? For BBC Scotland, little difference but as all regulars here know, that’s 2.3% of something big, 4 668 referrals in that quarter alone.

So, 107 cancer patients treated in Scotland in target time who would not have been had they lived in England. More than 1 000 in England who were not treated on time who would have been had they had nearly two decades of centre-left government, like the SNP.

And that’s just in one three-month period. The gap has been there for years – thousands of patients.

Is the above pushing it a bit? Imagine the difference went the other way?

Help Talking-up Scotland keep going

Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going

Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421