Scotland's health boards are unlikely to meet any of the targets they have been set for improving cancer treatment rates, despite being given extra funding, watchdogs revealed today.
As many as 53% of urgently-referred cancer patients in Scotland are having to wait longer than two months for treatment, according to the Audit Scotland report on the state of healthcare north of the border.
By the end of this year, all cancer patients should have a maximum wait from urgent referral to treatment of just two months. Yet figures show the target is unlikely to be achieved for any of the most common cancers, despite the boards being given an extra £25m a year as part of Scotland's cancer strategy.
Only 71.8% of lung cancer patients receive treatment within two months, while fewer than half of those colorectal cancer (47.5%) are treated within this timeframe. Those with breast cancer appear to be the best served, with 86.3% receiving treatment within eight weeks.
Auditors are calling for better target setting by the Scottish executive to improve the country's health.
The executive needs to have a more systematic process in place to bring about improvements, by coordinating targets across the health service which are "measurable, achievable, relevant and time-based", the report warns.
Life expectancy north of the border is improving, but vast health inequalities persist with drug related deaths and alcohol-induced health problems still on the rise, according to the watchdog's findings.
Men in the most deprived areas faced with a life expectancy of 69.1, compared with 77 in the least deprived. Almost a third (30%) of those living in the most deprived areas of Scotland have a long-term condition such as asthma, compared with 12% in the least deprived areas.
Efforts to improve drug treatment have failed. A target to reduce drug related deaths by 25% by 2005 has been thwarted by a 7% rise last year . "There has been no progress in relation to this target and it is unlikely to be achieved," the report notes.
The number of patients admitted to hospital for alcohol-related disease over the past six years has increased by 13%, and the number of patients admitted to general hospital due to harmful alcohol use has surged by 80%.
However, efforts to curb the highest smoking levels in the UK are underway, with the target to reduce the number of smokers to 27% of the population met five years earlier than planned.
It is hoped that the smoking ban coming into force next April will see further improvements.
Despite an additional funding of £50m in 2004-05 and £100m in 2005-06, Scotland's NHS faces "significant cost pressures and financial challenges" as it deals with structural reforms and three new pay agreements, the report warns. The report highlights some weaknesses in financial management. The Scottish executive's health department and four of the country's 15 NHS boards failed to stay within their budgets in the past year.
The combined overspend at four boards - Argyll & Clyde, Grampian, Lanarkshire and Western Isles - was £91.1m, a rise of almost 50% from last year's total of £61.7m for the same boards.
The auditor general, Robert Black, said: "Evidence is coming through that improvements in health services are resulting in better clinical outcomes and increased life expectancy.
"But the NHS in Scotland continues to face significant cost pressures, even with the extra funding that is going into the service. Further improvements are needed in financial management, workforce planning and performance management."
