Current status: Answered by Shona Robison on 2 December 2015
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has evidence of the benefits in better patient outcomes of increasing the volume of patients seen by a specialist cancer unit.
We are aware of the growing evidence of the benefits that surgical specialisation and multi-disciplinary team working can have on improving patient outcomes.
The National Cancer Clinical Services Group has been set up to consider how best to deliver services that meets the needs of people with cancer, including the delivery of surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Both radiotherapy and chemotherapy are already delivered in five highly specialised cancer centres in Scotland, with an additional satellite centre that opened on 30 November 2015 in NHS Lanarkshire.