To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on funding allocations to ensure the best possible cancer care for patients, particularly in their local communities. (S6O-03696)

The Scottish Government has disbursed cancer service allocations for this year to local health boards, including £4.6 million for systemic anti-cancer therapy and £11.3 million for cancer waiting times, in line with our overall strategic aim that, where possible, diagnostic tests and treatment are situated close to home and travel to specialist care is fully supported.

In addition, we are working in partnership with Macmillan Cancer Support to improve the service that we offer patients in local communities through the transforming cancer care programme. It is the first programme of its kind in the United Kingdom and ensures that every patient with cancer in Scotland has access to a specialist key support worker who can assist them in accessing wider local services.

I thank the minister for her comprehensive response. I am sure that she, like me, was pleased to see the results of the Scottish cancer patient experience survey, which was published yesterday and shows that 95 per cent of cancer patients viewed the care that they received positively. However, an area for improvement, and I know that the minister will share my view on this, is that cancer patients often tell us that they want a single point of contact throughout their cancer journey who can provide advice and support. Can the minister outline the support and funding that the Scottish Government is providing to embed single points of contact across Scotland’s national health service and, in particular, in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS Board area, which affects my constituents in Glasgow Pollok?

I reiterate the point that Humza Yousaf has made about the positive survey from Macmillan. I agree on the importance and effectiveness of a single point of contact to provide advice and support during a person’s cancer journey. In 2024-25, we have continued to invest in our single point of contact programme, including in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, where we have invested more than £250,000 to support people with gynaecological, prostate and lung cancer. We are working with Healthcare Improvement Scotland to review the programme to consider how we best scale the approach across Scotland.

Yesterday, the Scottish cancer patient experience survey for 2024 found that more than one in five cancer patients felt that they should have been seen much sooner for diagnosis. I think that we would all acknowledge that early intervention and treatment is key to beating cancer, but the Scottish Government’s continued failure to meet waiting time targets is putting lives at risk. Can the minister tell me what outcomes will be achieved by the additional £11 million that she mentioned? By when will that money improve the missed 31 and 62-day cancer waiting time targets?

Jackie Baillie is right to say that we have room for improvement on waiting times for cancer, and we are doing work in that regard. Some £1.2 million of the funding has been directed specifically towards diagnostics, and we continue to focus on improving timely access to cancer services, which is why our programme for government has committed to opening a further rapid cancer diagnostic service, bringing our national total to six.