Jackie Baillie is backing Bladder Cancer Awareness Month this May in order to raise awareness of the condition which has far worse survival rates in Scotland compared to England. They are also the lowest in Europe.

Charity Fight Bladder Cancer UK is determined to spark conversations about the disease by highlighting symptoms and overcoming barriers to seeking medical advice.

One of the main barriers in the timely diagnosis of bladder cancer is related to the symptoms. Symptoms and how people respond to them can vary, especially as some symptoms are not immediately seen as linked to bladder cancer. The main symptoms are blood in the urine, a reoccurring urinary tract infection which does not clear up, frequent urination or pain when urinating and abdominal lower back and pelvic pain.

1700 people are diagnosed each year with invasive and non-invasive bladder cancer in Scotland.  Five-year survival rates for bladder cancer in Scotland are 53 percent for men and just 42 percent for women. In England this figure is 74 percent and 67 percent respectively.

These rates have not improved during the last three decades despite the cancer being the fifth most common cancer in the western world yet only receiving just one percent of cancer research funding.

Across the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board area, which includes West Dunbartonshire, there were 266 patients who had urgent referrals made for a suspicion of urological cancer between October and December last year. Of these, more than half (53 percent) had to wait for 84 days or more to be seen.

Bladder cancer is the second most common urological cancer, behind prostate cancer.

As with most cancers, a timely diagnosis offers a significant increase in the chance of long-term survival and quality of life.

Jackie Baillie, Dumbarton constituency MSP, said: “It is astonishing to learn that the five-year survival rate for bladder cancer is so much lower in Scotland compared to England and the rest of Europe. We have some fantastic research facilities here, some of which I have visited recently, yet there is a lack of investment which is worrying.

“The SNP Government is yet to publish their new cancer plan after the last one expired at the end of March. It is important that the new Cabinet Secretary for Health gets this one right and that it focuses on achieving the best outcomes for patients who have been let down by the SNP.”