Hansard

I thank my colleague Clare Adamson for bringing this important debate to the chamber this year and for her very informative speech. I also thank all those who offered us briefings for the debate to help us get across the message about pancreatic cancer. As we all know, November is pancreatic cancer awareness month, and I am honoured to have the opportunity to speak in this annual debate and to show my support.

We have heard from members across the chamber about their personal experiences as well as those of their constituents. Every year, I mention my mother, who died from this awful disease in 1985. She went far too soon, at only 52 years old. I feel that I have lived alongside that cancer for the past 40 years, and I just want to tell the minister that I do not intend to let go.

As we have heard, pancreatic cancer is probably the most stubborn cancer in Scotland, and it is important for us as elected members to use this platform to raise public awareness. Repeating the symptoms to look out for is really important, because catching the disease early could be critical.

The difficulty is that a person who might have pancreatic cancer might not have any noticeable symptoms at all, or their symptoms might be really difficult to spot. My colleague Marie McNair mentioned a few of them. Some typical symptoms might be loss of weight, loss of appetite, indigestion and nausea, and even a yellowing of the eyes, which is a pointer to possible jaundice. The clear message to people is to get in touch with their general practitioner if they have any concerns. It is not certain that those symptoms mean that they have the disease, but the earlier they get checked, the better.

The fact is that 70 per cent of people with the cancer never get any treatment, and Scotland seems to be one of the worst in that regard—I do not understand why. After all, getting checked and treated early can improve survival rates for this incredibly stubborn disease.

As for what has been done to try to overcome it, I note that, in 2023-24, Cancer Research UK spent more than £31 million in Scotland, £9 million of which was on pancreatic cancer. Results of its trials showed that chemotherapy after surgery for pancreatic cancer can almost treble short-term survival for people with the disease.

Pancreatic Cancer UK’s Scot HPB pilot, which members have mentioned, resulted in significant improvements across all the measured key performance indicators for pancreatic cancer patients. Improvements such as reducing the waiting time between imaging and starting patient treatment from 54 days to 38 days, reducing the wait time for patients with initial suspicion of cancer to diagnosis and speeding up how quickly patients receive contact from a specialist HPB nurse are part of the basket of actions that can help improve survival rates.

Moreover, Pancreatic Cancer UK has awarded almost £500,000 to researchers at the University of Glasgow to uncover why pancreatic cysts develop into pancreatic cancer, which around 10 per cent of pancreatic cysts apparently do. Given that just over 292,000 people in Scotland over the age of 60 have a pancreatic cyst, a frightening 29,000 people could go on to develop pancreatic cancer, so understanding how cysts develop into cancer is crucial if we are to reduce the number of such cases.

I cannot emphasise enough the need to maintain the successful research that we already know is working, and I firmly hope that the Scottish Government will be able to give some assurances on that today, if possible. Every year, the research seems to make good progress.

Once again, I thank my colleague Clare Adamson for bringing the issue to the Parliament’s attention. I am delighted to have once again made a contribution to this incredibly important subject this year.