The Scottish Government has announced £10 million of funding to speed up cancer services and improve waiting times.

The money will be shared among the health boards and aims to increase the number of operations available, create extra clinics, and upskill new staff in order to speed up the delivery of endoscopy, radiology and chemotherapy treatment.

The new funding comes on top of the £10 million that was allocated to Health Boards last year which was used to support cancer services during the pandemic. This money funded new healthcare staff, additional weekend clinics and operations in areas where they were most needed as well as helping to create a new Urological Diagnostic Hub in NHS Highland.

The funding was announced by Scottish Health Secretary Humza Yousa, whilst on a visit to NHS Forth Valley’s Breast Cancer One-Stop Clinic, which has been paid for by this funding.

Mr Yousaf said: “Despite the challenges of the pandemic, NHS Scotland has consistently met the 31-day standard for starting cancer treatment with an average wait of four days once a decision to treat has been made – that’s testament to the relentless efforts of our fantastic healthcare staff across the country. However we must [do] more to improve our 62-day performance.

“Covid has not gone away and pressures remain, which is why we are providing health boards with a £10 million cash boost to drive down waiting times so that cancer patients can receive the best care as early as possible.”