Humza Yousaf is “putting lives at risk” by failing to help cancer patients who have been forced to travel outside of Scotland for faster, private treatment, the Scottish Conservatives have said.
At First Minister’s Questions, Douglas Ross raised the cases of cancer patients who have been handed long waiting times of several months and felt the need to pay thousands of pounds to go to England for treatment.
The Scottish Conservative Leader also raised a new Freedom of Information response received by the party, which showed that a patient in NHS Grampian has waited more than five months to start chemotherapy treatment.
Official statistics published on Tuesday showed that one in four Scottish patients suspected of having cancer don’t start treatment within the 62-day target.
This week, Margaret McCaul, from Lanarkshire, described her ordeal when she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
She faced a wait of three months for NHS treatment in Scotland, so she used £27,000 of her life savings for faster private treatment in England.
Mrs McCaul said: “Cancer kills if left untreated and the Scottish Government is allowing this to happen. We shouldn’t have to go to London or elsewhere.”
Another woman, Irene Hartshorn, from Ayr, was told she needed to wait 12 weeks for ovarian cancer surgery.
She told the Scottish Conservatives: “I felt powerless. You know that all the time the illness is getting worse and worse...If I had waited, I think I would be dead by now.”
Her sister paid for her to get faster private treatment in London.
The charity Target Ovarian Cancer says Scotland has one of the worst survival rates in Europe.
Scottish Conservative Leader Douglas Ross said: “Cancer patients need urgent treatment to save their lives. But in the SNP-run NHS, they wait months.
“People from the most deprived areas are much more likely to die from cancer already. As waiting times grow, they will only suffer more since they can’t afford to go outwith Scotland for treatment.
“The SNP must put the resources in place so people in Scotland can get urgent cancer care when they need it.
“Humza Yousaf is putting lives at risk by failing to reduce lengthy cancer waiting times.
“People are having to spend their life savings so they can go elsewhere for the life-saving treatment they need.
“Humza Yousaf was health secretary for two years and cancer waiting times grew. How is he going to sort it now that he’s First Minister?”