Hansard

I am grateful to Clare Adamson for bringing the debate to the chamber and I thank her for doing so.

I am delighted to hear Miles Briggs’s update on John Scott. Those of us who had the pleasure of serving in the Parliament with Mr Scott all have enormous affection for him, despite political differences. Through Mr Briggs, I pass on my best wishes.

I thank the charities, survivors and family members for their work to keep the spotlight on the condition not only during pancreatic cancer awareness month but year round.

I was keen to speak at the request of a number of constituents who have been in contact with me asking if I would do so, because it enables me to mention their experience and allow their voices to be heard in the debate.

One constituent told me of losing her father to pancreatic cancer last year. The diagnosis came too late, as it often does, which gave him no chance. She told me of the devastation that that understandably caused her and her family. I was able to correspond with the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care and raise some of the issues in the family’s experience of engaging with the national health service for his treatment. I was grateful for the response that the cabinet secretary sent me.

Another constituent spoke of losing her brother and yet another wrote to me to say that they themselves have, sadly, been diagnosed and described the obvious impact that that has had on them.

I send each of those constituents my best wishes. It is for them that I speak in the debate. For too many people, including too many of my constituents, this is a deeply personal debate on a disease that has a sudden and traumatic impact on their lives. I am sure that we will be united—we have already heard that—in pushing for more awareness, more research and earlier diagnosis and treatment for the condition.

The reality is that pancreatic cancer remains one of the less survivable cancers. It is a tough disease to diagnose and treat. Too many people are diagnosed only once symptoms have become severe and, by that stage, treatment options can be limited. The challenge for any health service is that a delay in diagnosis or treatment can prove fatal.

However, those challenges also point us to where we can make a difference as policy makers by improving early detection. I welcome the Scottish Government’s detect cancer early programme, which takes a whole-systems approach to early detection that encompasses primary care, diagnostics, public education, data, innovation and screening. The new rapid cancer diagnostic services—including one in the NHS Lanarkshire area in which my and Ms Adamson’s constituencies are located—are a further addition to how cancer can be diagnosed.

Clare Adamson’s motion rightly points out the need for further research on pancreatic cancer as, at the moment, it receives only around 3 per cent of the United Kingdom cancer research budget. Not only should we consider whatever means are at our disposal and open to us to increase that percentage and the overall spending on cancer research, but, collectively, we must ensure that our excellent, world-class research institutions are able to attract the fullest range of international research funding and that international researchers know that they are welcome to come here to contribute to that effort.

I welcome what will be a consensual debate, given the broad consensus that we have on matters such as the importance of early diagnosis, greater research and the steps that the Government is taking to improve pathways for patients who might need treatment. I look forward to hearing from the minister what more is being done to improve outcomes for patients with pancreatic cancer in Scotland.

I conclude by thanking my constituents who took the time to contact me about their experiences, whether as a patient or as the loved one of a patient, ahead of today’s debate. It is not easy for people to talk about their own ill health or the loss of a loved one, and I am grateful to them for sharing their experiences with me.