Hansard

I thank Edward Mountain for securing the debate and for his personal contribution to the Government’s achievement. His willingness to share a personal diagnosis and his experience of treatment to raise awareness of screening and encourage others to come forward is very welcome indeed.

His story tells us that screening for this cancer really matters. Bowel cancer is one of the most common cancer types in Scotland, and those who are diagnosed early are 14 times more likely to survive. We know from the latest Public Health Scotland figures that more can be done, and although we congratulate the Government, we cannot afford to be complacent.

Of Scots who are eligible for screening, only about half of those who live in the most deprived areas took it up, compared to three quarters of those who live in the least deprived areas. That is a 22 percentage point gap and it is even wider than the inequality in breast cancer screening. Although men are more at risk, their uptake is lower, particularly in the most deprived areas.

Earlier today, I attended an Atos and Breast Cancer Now briefing at which I heard how mobile units can be targeted more precisely at hard-to-reach populations to increase screening uptake. In fact, Edward Mountain highlighted a suggestion that, where uptake for bowel screening is low, the NHS could use mobile units to reach people in those hard-to-reach communities. It would be useful if the minister could address what the Scottish Government is doing to increase screening uptake, particularly in disadvantaged areas.

It is not just about screening. Of those who are referred for a colonoscopy, seven in 10 had to wait for more than four weeks to receive it, and three in 10 of those waited for more than eight weeks. That is eight weeks of stress, anxiety and fear before getting answers.

Worryingly, last year, the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh warned MSPs on the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee that four in 10 stool samples containing blood are not followed up because of a shortage of colonoscopy capacity across NHS Scotland. I am told that the current threshold for investigation in Scotland is four times the trigger point that is suggested by the UK National Screening Committee. We can do better than that and build on the positive achievements today. Bowel Cancer UK, for example, has called for the Scottish Government to reduce that threshold so that positive bowel cancer screening tests are investigated and more early diagnosis can be made.

In its report, “Cost of cancer in the UK”, Cancer Research UK tells us that the cost of treating bowel cancer increases the later it is diagnosed. It therefore makes economic sense to detect early. Some cancers are so complex and rare that the chances of being able to treat the patient and allow them to continue to live a normal life are currently quite low, but bowel cancer is not one of those.

I want to leave members with the story of a woman who had emergency bowel surgery at the start of June. She was told that she would have a follow-up appointment three months later to discuss the reversal of the procedure and the removal of the stoma bag. Her appointment on 10 September was cancelled; the new appointment on 24 December has since been cancelled. It was then 31 December, which has also been cancelled. Now, it is 7 April 2027. Yes, members heard me correctly—not 2026, but 2027, some 22 months after her surgery. [Interruption.] I am on my last line. Every stage of the patient journey is important and, to be frank, the way in which that patient has been treated is shocking and unacceptable.

The Scottish Government has done good work, but it can and must do better.