Sturgeon reveals her family's struggles with cancer

Published on Tuesday 31 March 2009 23:10

NICOLA Sturgeon yesterday revealed her own family's battle with bowel cancer as she launched the latest step in a nationwide programme to tackle the disease.

The health secretary told how she lost her grandmother to bowel cancer shortly after diagnosis nearly 20 years ago, but pointed to the success story of her partner's father as an indication of how important it is that people undergo screening.

Ms Sturgeon's partner is Peter Murrell, the chief executive of the SNP, and his father was diagnosed with the disease after screening last year. But after surgery, he is now "doing fine", she said.

The health secretary was addressing the roll-out of a cancer screening programme in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, under which more than 300,000 people between the ages of 50 and 74 will be sent screening kits to test for the disease, which claims the lives of 1,600 Scots each year.

The screening programme already exists in ten other health board areas, and it will be expanded to cover the whole of the country by the end of the year.

Although men are more likely than women to develop bowel cancer, they are less likely to participate in the screening programmes, with only about 45 to 50 per cent doing so.

Similarly, people living in deprived areas are less inclined to make use of the service.

The Scottish Government is hoping to address these issues with a national awareness campaign.