Poorer Scots face late cancer detection rates

People from the poorest areas of Scotland are most likely to be diagnosed with cancer at the most advanced stage.

Ministers launched ambitious plans in 2012 to improve early diagnosis by 25 per cent by the end of 2015 but critics said performance had fallen “woefully short”.

The latest figures reveal just an 8 per cent increase in patients with lung, breast and bowel cancer whose disease was diagnosed during the earliest stage since 2010/11.

Poor screening uptake has been blamed for a gulf in diagnosis rates between rich and poor patients, as nearly 30 per cent of the poorest patients were diagnosed with stage four cancer.

More than 29 per cent of the least deprived people had their disease picked up at stage one, when it is most treatable.

It comes after experts were drafted in to examine the breast screening programme when it emerged that thousands of women had not been offered routine appointments.

Elspeth Atkinson, Scotland director for Macmillan, said: “If someone is diagnosed early they are more likely to survive cancer and less likely to experience long term negative effects as a result of treatment.

“It is unacceptable that those from deprived communities are most likely to be diagnosed at the latest stage while those from affluent areas are most likely to be diagnosed at the earliest stage.

“We know those from more deprived communities are less likely to attend cancer screening. Targeted action is urgently needed to improve screening rates among those from more deprived areas.”

There were also significant variations between the three types of cancer measured.

Around 40 per cent of breast cancer patients were picked up at the earliest stage, which fell to 17.9 per cent for lung cancer and 15.4 per cent for bowel cancer.

Breast and bowel cancer patients were most likely to be diagnosed at stage 2, while the majority of lung cancer cases were not found until the late stages.

Scottish Conservative shadow health secretary Donald Cameron called for the First Minister to explain why the target had been missed.

He said: “Nicola Sturgeon, amid great fanfare, announced the Scottish Government was going to increase the rate of cancers detected early by 25 per cent.

“Now it’s revealed the SNP fell woefully short on this target.

“She was the health secretary at the time, and now as First Minister must explain why this programme has been such a failure.”

Health Secretary Shona Robison said: “It will take many years before the full impact of our ambitious Detect Cancer Early programme is realised, however we are already seeing improvements in public awareness and attitudes to cancer including an increase in the uptake of bowel screening particularly from those in more deprived areas.

“Changing behaviours takes time and that is why through our programme we will continue to invest in earlier detection of cancer and continue with our activity to encourage even more people to get checked early and attend for screening when invited.”