Seòmar agus comataidhean

First, I thank Marie McNair for her advocacy and her campaigning work in bringing the wear a hat day event to the Parliament. I pass on my deepest condolences and sympathies to her constituents, Mr and Mrs McKie, for their loss. I also thank them for their campaigning and fundraising over the years. Awareness raising and lived experience are absolutely critical in getting to the point of being able to detect less survivable cancers such as brain tumours early, so I thank them for that.

Alongside what I have set out around the less survivable cancers task force, of which the Brain Tumour Charity is a member, and developing practical and impactful actions to raise awareness and support increased detection of those cancers, we have also invested in our Get Checked Early website, which has content on brain cancer to highlight symptoms and advises when to seek professional advice.

Ms McNair will be interested in the work that has been done by the incredible rapid cancer diagnostic services, which have been expanded to NHS Forth Valley this week, providing primary care with access to a new fast-track diagnostic pathway for people with non-specific symptoms of suspected cancer, such as brain tumours.

In 2024-25, £11.3 million in cancer waiting times funding was made available across Scotland. Most of that funding is being directed to tackling urological cancers, such as prostate cancer, as well as colorectal and breast cancers. We are establishing a network of urology diagnostic hubs across NHS Scotland—seven have already been established—in order to provide efficient, patient-centred care for urology patients. A clinical review of the Scottish referral guidelines for suspected cancer, including prostate cancer, is under way to help to ensure that the right person is on the right pathway at the right time. Those guidelines are due to be published in the spring.

In March, we published the “NHS Scotland operational improvement plan”, which details how we will deliver a more accessible NHS, with reductions to long waits and service pressures.

Productivity will be increased through a number of measures that are set out in the plan, including regional delivery models and maximising our national treatment centres, deploying digital technologies such as the roll-out of the new digital dermatology pathway and a national theatre scheduling tool, and collaborating with health boards to identify and implement best practice, to maximise and optimise efficiencies. That is supported through a record £21.7 billion investment, including £200 million to directly target long waits and improve flow through hospitals.

The Government has been listening carefully to the views of Scotland’s GPs, who have described the multiple contributions that general practice can make as we shift to more community-focused care and have argued that GPs must be given the resources that they need to fulfil their role. We have listened and we have been persuaded.

As a result, we are already committed to increasing investment in primary and community care, so that GPs and services in the community will have the resources that they need to carry out their essential role in our health system. That was evident from the budget and from the programme for government announcement yesterday. We will keep talking to the BMA, with which I have a very constructive and positive relationship—yes, there are challenges, but there is also an agreed sense of purpose in terms of the opportunities that there are for general practice to contribute.

Through our 10-year cancer strategy and action plan, there is a key focus on improving outcomes for less survivable cancers, including brain tumours. Actions include the Get Checked Early and NHS Inform websites highlighting possible symptoms of brain tumours and encouraging early detection and referral; the Scottish referral guidelines for suspected cancer providing updated clinical guidance for the urgent referral of suspected brain tumours; a new national headache pathway, which lists the symptoms that require urgent or emergency assessment to exclude a brain tumour; and a clinical management pathway for adult brain tumours, supporting consistency in access to treatment and care.

Mr Gibson is absolutely right that sharing best practice across the health service is critical to ensuring that we can deliver for the people of Scotland. The centre for sustainable delivery has a central role in working across NHS Scotland to drive that productivity and share best practice. That intensive and on-going cycle of work is carried out in close collaboration with health boards.

As well as the actions in the operational improvement plan that are being taken forward, that is reflected across health boards’ year-on-year delivery plans. We know that there is still some way for us to go, but we are seeing clear improvements. In 2020-24, nationally, in-patient and day-case activity was more than 7.4 per cent more than in 2023, and new out-patient activity was 2.4 per cent higher. We will build on that in the year ahead.

Accident and emergency waits are improving, and the number of people stuck in hospital unnecessarily is reducing. Waiting times are coming down. That is progress, and it is just the start of the progress that I want to deliver for Mr Gibson’s constituents and for the people of Scotland, who cherish our NHS.

I absolutely understand and sympathise with the position that Mrs Gault is in. I thank Sandesh Gulhane for raising the issue again.

I will need to check the Official Report. I do not remember describing this as cosmetic surgery, but as reconstructive surgery, which it is. It is a complex procedure that requires specialist provision.

The £30 million intervention that we brought forward last year allowed for the employment of further consultants in the field. I hope that the additional investment that we are bringing forward this year will not just provide sustainability but deliver against the waiting times that we want to see and give confidence to patients such as Mrs Gault that we will get through those. Dr Gulhane is absolutely right to say that it is imperative that we do so for those women, and that is what we intend to do.

Yes.

Although cancer waiting times reporting across United Kingdom nations are not directly comparable, we note that prostate cancer five-year survival rates in Scotland are similar to those observed in England.

The earlier prostate cancer is diagnosed, the easier it is to treat, which is why we continue to invest in our detect cancer earlier programme. Additionally, the Scottish Government continues to invest in cancer services and in improving waiting times. Over the past five years, we have invested more than £40 million, which has been focused on urological cancers, including prostate cancer, and colorectal and breast cancers. In 2024-25, £11.3 million was provided to boards.

First and foremost, we will continue talking to the BMA. On the announcement on the programme for government, the 100,000 new appointments are to help general practice to deliver what it does best, which is to prevent ill health. Cardiovascular disease is evidently an issue for us in Scotland, and we have worked with the BMA to deliver on that, for which I am grateful to it.

That basis of constructive dialogue and of finding ways in which we can support general practice is the way in which I will deal with the discussions with the BMA. Yes, we need more resource going in and, yes, we need to provide GPs with greater support, because they are the absolute fulcrum of our NHS.