Sturgeon announces cancer care overhaul in bid to tackle rising rates of disease

Published on Tuesday 12 February 2008 20:55

CANCER care in Scotland is to be overhauled in a bid to tackle the increasing rates of the disease fuelled by an ageing population, it was announced yesterday.

Nicola Sturgeon, the health secretary, said that the Scottish Government would seek views from patients, carers, medics and charities before publishing a new strategy this summer.

The move – which will look at preventing cancer, helping sufferers with ancillary problems such as finances and abolishing inequalities of treatment – was welcomed by experts last night.

Latest figures show that almost 130,000 people are living with cancer in Scotland, and there are 27,000 new diagnoses every year.

Ms Sturgeon said: "The good news is we have made great strides in recent years. Investment in cancer services has delivered more staff, more state-of-the-art equipment.

"More people today are surviving cancer. But there is no room for complacency because more people over the next few years will be diagnosed with cancer and, as people get older, the likelihood is people with cancer will have other issues."

She said the consultation would "look ahead to where we want to go in terms of improvements to cancer care" and how to "up our game to improve prevention of cancer".

Ms Sturgeon added that some plans were already in place, with a cervical cancer vaccination being introduced later this year and a screening programme for bowel cancer being rolled out.

In November, it was revealed that 87.3 per cent of patients were being treated within 62 days of urgent referral – an improvement on previous figures but still below the 95 per cent target.

Ms Sturgeon said improving on this figure would also be a focus of the move, but the consultation would look at whether the length of wait should be brought down, or more cases brought within the target.

The consultation will also consider education initiatives to encourage lifestyle changes and build on the smoking ban.

Sheila Duffy, chief executive of the anti-smoking pressure group Ash Scotland, said there was "no doubt" that, with such measures, the country could "make great progress in the fight against cancer and improving Scotland's public health".

St John Hattersley, head of service for Macmillan Cancer Support in Scotland, said: "There does need to be a focus throughout the patient journey (on] people being informed about the full range of help and support material available to them and (to make sure] they are supported to make choices on what they need and want."

Richard Davidson, Cancer Research UK Scotland director of policy, added it was "incredibly important" to provide patients with "high-quality, tailored information" in the internet age.

ST JOHN HATTERSLEY

PUBLIC health authorities working with the public sector should take specific actions targeted at the hard-to-reach groups so that the whole equality agenda is given a specific thrust in cancer services.

We need to bring both health and local authorities' services together, and an example of that would be the work Macmillan has done on benefits and financial advice.

Patients taking a role in their own treatment and care is really a huge issue that's not going to be easily delivered.

It needs some national framework for patient and carer involvement. I think we need a mechanism for best practice across Scotland.

&#149 St John Hattersley is head of service for Macmillan Cancer Support in Scotland, and chairman of the Cancer Coalition.

DR GRAHAME HOWARD

MORE patients are living longer with cancer and there's a huge increase in the cancer burden. It will require more people, more kit, more networks to look at those patients, and the interesting thing will be the balance of where people are looked after – the community, various drop-in centres. How many people can be looked after in the home?

It's also about engaging the patients and this is where the patient comes into the discussion. They will be focal to the debate. We are looking for optimal and improved care for the increased number of patients – and equality.

&#149 Dr Grahame Howard is a consultant oncologist with NHS Lothian.

SHEILA DUFFY

A MASSIVE 89.5 per cent of all lung cancer deaths and 62.5 per cent of all upper "aerodigestive" cancer deaths in Scotland are due to tobacco. But by reducing smoking and taking positive steps on other lifestyle factors identified as causing cancer, we can take action to change.

By introducing effective measures to prevent young people from starting to smoke, and supporting smokers to quit through accessible cessation support and services, we can cut smoking rates and the appalling toll of cancer on the lives of those it affects. Scotland can make great progress in the fight against cancer if we establish measures needed to tackle smoking now.

&#149 Sheila Duffy is the chief executive of Ash Scotland.

RICHARD DAVIDSON

ONE of the first things is prioritising cancer prevention. Scotland has done amazing things in recent years, leading the way in smoking in public places and what they're doing about age of sale, and we are hopeful they are going to take action on sunbeds too.

The other points about prevention are improving early presentation, detection and screening. That's where our rates are higher than the rest of Europe. We need to tackle that.

Scotland leads the way in many areas of cancer research and access to clinical trials, but we need to see the Scottish Government supporting that research and encouraging it. There also needs to be a concentrated effort to tackle inequalities.

&#149 Richard Davidson is Cancer Research UK Scotland's director of policy.

From 'sore throat' to a second cancer battle

WHEN father of two Thomas Reid went to the doctor with a sore throat, he was told it was an infection.

He binged on paracetamol in a bid to numb the excruciating pain and ended up in hospital, having accidentally poisoned his liver with the drugs.

It was there he received the true diagnosis: throat cancer.

The 51-year-old, who had already battled bladder cancer, said: "I think three or four consultants were in the room when I went in and they examined me and saw the X-rays. Basically they went through a lot of medical stuff and at the end they asked if I wanted to ask anything and I just said: 'The main question is, am I going to survive?'

"They said, 'The good news is yes, we think you are totally curable', which is a huge weight off your shoulders, but you know it's going to be a hard road."

Mr Reid receives chemotherapy and radiotherapy and the initial side-effects, because of his damaged liver, were horrendous. He will lose his speech and has to be fed through a tube.

"I've got a teenage son and daughter so I wondered how I was going to look after them and myself," said Mr Reid, of Davidsons Mains, Edinburgh.

"My partner now looks after me. That's difficult because the council are trying to take benefits off me. I'm finding it hard to pay my rent at the moment.

"My daughter moved out and it's only my young son and we are trying to look after the dog. The dog's being neglected and I have got to do something about that.

"I have to stay with my carer, my partner, because I'm not meant to be on my own and she stays in a cottage with no stairs. I'm losing the power in my right leg. Home life is pretty hard."

He said he believed the Scottish Government consultation was "worthwhile" and should result in more funding and "appreciation" for the health service.

"We need more education," he said. "I'm a smoker but I'm on a no-smoking programme, which I find hard. It's something I never thought about."