Cole-Hamilton complains of £850,000 cuts to cancer research

In response to a parliamentary question from Mr Cole-Hamilton, the Scottish Government revealed that their total funding for cancer research was cut by £846,801 (26.5%) in the most recent budget.

Recent figures have shown that the Scottish Government’s key 62-day target cancer treatment target was missed in every health board in Scotland during the first three months of 2024. Nationally the SNP Government hadn’t hit this target for fourteen years.

Mr Cole Hamilton said:

"Every day counts in a battle against cancer.

“Scotland has phenomenally talented medics and researchers but if they are to make progress they need investment in research to look for new treatments and long term solutions. The Scottish Government need to explain what assessment has been done of the impact of an almost £1m funding cut to cancer research in the Scottish Government’s latest budget.

“The SNP Government haven’t hit their key target for fourteen years. People are being tragically let down and left waiting far too long.

"Liberal Democrats would boost cancer survival rates by backing research into the cancers with the lowest survival rates and halving the time for new treatments to reach patients.

"We are determined to pull out all the stops to cut waiting times and give NHS staff and patients a fair deal."

Supporting Information:

Mr Cole-Hamilton's parliamentary question can be found here.

You can find the Public Health Scotland report here.

The 62-day standard states that 95% of eligible patients should wait no longer than 62 days from urgent suspicion of cancer referral to first cancer treatment.

The 31-day standard, covering the period from decision to treat to first cancer treatment, was also missed.

Scottish Liberal Democrat Manifesto click here: