A Scots cancer patient has cancelled a hospital appointment because of the inconvenience and rising travel costs.
Stuart Roxburgh, 82, of Lochmaben in Dumfries is scheduled to go to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary for check-ups every six months because he can’t access services closer to home.
But the soaring price of petrol and the “total inconvenience” of having to make a 130-mile round trip for a 10-minute appointment has become too much for him to take.
Mr Roxburgh said: “With the price of petrol and something to eat while I’m left waiting an hour and a half for a 10-minute appointment it just now seems like too much.
“It’s also the principle of the thing. Patients in this region shouldn’t have to travel to Edinburgh for these appointments.
“I’ve decided to cancel my next appointment due in August.
“It makes me wonder how many other people in Dumfries and Galloway might be putting their lives at risk by also cancelling because it’s unaffordable and not practical to make the trip.
“It’s a sad state of affairs.”
Mr Roxburgh welcomed the news that a petition calling for improved rural health care in the region has been submitted to MSPs.
The Scottish Parliament’s Public Petitions Committee agreed on Wednesday to look at the petition from former doctor Gordon Baird on behalf of the Galloway Community Hospital Action Group.
The group is calling for a widespread review of cancer care in Dumfries and Galloway to try to reduce lengthy trips for treatment.
Patients in Stranraer can face a 135-mile road trip, one way, to Edinburgh for radiotherapy and scans.
NHS Dumfries and Galloway said staffing and equipment issues made offering some services locally “unlikely”.
The arrangement for patients to be treated in Edinburgh is a long-standing one between the health board and NHS Lothian.
However, Dr Baird set up a petition last year on behalf of the group calling for the creation of an agency dedicated to rural health matters headed by a rural health commissioner.
MSPs Finlay Carson and Emma Harper have both backed the call and raised the issue in Holyrood.
Ms Harper, of the SNP, said: “Current arrangements – where people often travel a 260-mile round trip from Stranraer to Edinburgh when Glasgow is closer – is archaic and constituents are asking for change.”
Galloway and West Dumfries Tory MSP Mr Carson described it as “a lamentable situation.”
Mr Roxburgh, who was born with a disease of the pancreas which caused a slow onset of liver failure, was the 500th liver transplant in Scotland nearly 20 years ago.
Since then, he’s been diagnosed with skin cancer twice and liver cancer.
He said: “This region is getting bigger and bigger and it’s about time we had similar facilities here as in Edinburgh.”
“I’d definitely support a review of services in Dumfries and Galloway and I’m glad MSPs have agreed to look at the petition.
“It’s a desperate situation and the sooner something is done, the better.”
Dumfries woman Rea Hunter, 39, also previously called for an urgent review of cancer care services after her mum had to endure four-hour round trips from her home in Dalbeattie to Edinburgh “writhing in pain” for treatment that took just 12 minutes.
Rea spoke out after her mum Olivia Craig died in January having being diagnosed in November.
She described the current situation as “deplorable” and claimed “animals are treated with more dignity and compassion” than patients.
She added: “It’s an absolute travesty that people who are ill, in agony, are being subjected to a four-hour round trip.
“We treat animals with more dignity and compassion.
“As a region with a population of almost 140,000, and stats suggesting one in two people will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime, it shouldn’t be like this.”
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