Question reference: S6W-09247
- Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 23 June 2022
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Current status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 8 July 2022
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that the majority of primary liver cancer cases in Scotland involve hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and that such cases tripled among men between 1997 and 2017, what steps it is taking to ensure equitable treatment for HCC in (a) the Galloway and West Dumfries constituency and (b) other rural areas.
Answer
We agree that everyone should have fair and equitable access to high quality care. It remains an unwelcome reality that communities experience health, quality of life and even life expectancy differently across our society.
The Scottish Government is supporting rural, remote and island communities to address the unique health and social care challenges they face, ensuring that patients receive the right care, in the right place, at the right time. NHS Education for Scotland (NES) has been commissioned to write a business plan detailing how the Health Board will create and host the National Centre of excellence for rural and remote health and social care, which is due to be operational by spring 2023. The National Centre will coordinate, facilitate, fund and promote excellence under the following Four Pillars: ‘Recruitment and Retention’, ‘Ideal Practice and Evaluation’, ‘Training and Education’, and ‘Research and Innovation.’ This will ensure that the issues impacting remote and rural areas in Scotland are given the focused attention necessary to be addressed innovatively and effectively.
With regards to cancer services, our National Cancer Plan advocates a ‘Once for Scotland’ approach to cancer services and will help to ensure that access to care and treatment is equitable across Scotland. The Scottish HepatoPancreatoBiliary Network (SHPBN) is a key partner in improving cancer services to ensure equity of care for all patients living with liver cancer. Under the National Cancer Plan, the SHPBN has been awarded £653,000 over two financial years for the hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and pancreatic cancer (PC) Patient Pathways Improvement Project to redesign the pancreatic and liver cancer pathways. The key aims of this project are to shorten the time taken to stage and decide the best treatment for patients, streamline patient pathways and improve communication with patients, carers, primary care & health professionals.