Jackie Baillie has accused the SNP of “endangering lives” as cancer waiting times hit their worst point on record.

Latest cancer waiting times show that from 1 October to 31 December 2022 the SNP government missed both their 62 day and 31 day cancer treatment standards, with performance plummeting to record lows while referrals rise.

Just 71.7 percent of patients referred under the 62-day standard were seen within the right timescale, with the target being missed in every single Health Board and across every single cancer type. This target has not been met nationally since 2012.

In NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, the health board area which covers Dumbarton, the Vale of Leven and Balloch, a shocking quarter of patients (25 percent) with referrals deemed urgent had to wait for 84 days or more for treatment. That’s almost three months between receipt of an urgent referral with suspicion of cancer to first treatment.

This increased from a fifth (21 percent) in the previous quarter and from 16 percent between October and December 2021 meaning people here with suspected cancer are now facing far longer waits than they did just a year ago.

The maximum wait for treatment from an urgent referral for cancer was more than a year (385 days) within NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde between October and December 2022.

This record-breaking low comes despite the SNP government producing a series of ineffective cancer plans in the last seven years.

Dumbarton constituency MSP, Jackie Baillie said: “These are the worst cancer statistics on record, with thousands of Scots being failed by the SNP. The picture across the communities of Dumbarton, the Vale of Leven and Balloch is dreadful and for some people, heartbreakingly, treatment has come too late.

“Not a single health board is meeting the government’s 62 day own cancer target – that is shameful. After 10 years and four failed SNP cancer plans, it is clear that this is a government out of ideas and endangering lives.

“The facts are clear for all to see – Humza Yousaf has left the NHS in a parlous state and has landed this deadly crisis on the desk of Michael Matheson.

“A decade of astounding negligence and empty plans from the SNP government has failed the people of Scotland.”