BREAST cancer patients from Glasgow are being referred to another area for surgery to help speed up waiting times.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said patients were being referred to hospitals in Lanarkshire for treatment to, “relieve pressure on surgical capacity.”

Around 20 women a month who would normally be seen in Glasgow will be treated by NHS Lanarkshire.

Glasgow’s health board said performance against breast cancer waiting times targets was “challenging.”

Patients are being re-directed from the Breast Screening Unit in Glasgow direct to NHS Lanarkshire until March.

Additional clinics were set up last year to reduce the time for a first appointment to see a specialist as a result of one-off government funding.

The health board said plans were being developed to continue this.

Boards are required to treat 95% of cancer patients within 31 days of a decision to treat and within 62 days from a GP referral.

The latest figures show that 85.5% of screened patients were treated within 31 days with 93.7% seen within the 62 day target.

A spokeswoman for NHSGGC said: “We recognise that our latest performance for breast cancer has been challenging and NHS Lanarkshire has agreed to provide support.

“To date we have redirected 19 patients for treatment with NHS Lanarkshire.”

More than 4,600 women and 28 men are diagnosed with breast cancer in Scotland each year.

It is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women and around 1,000 people in Scotland die from the disease every year.

However, five year survival for women diagnosed with breast cancer has increased substantially from 70.7% for those diagnosed between 1987 and 1991 to 88.0% for those diagnosed between 2007 and 2011. The improvement is likely to be due to earlier diagnosis in women participating in the Scottish Breast Screening Programme, improvements in treatment, and better organisation and delivery of care for patients.

Judith Park, NHS Lanarkshire Director of Access, said: “The West of Scotland breast cancer multidisciplinary team agree the treatment pathway for each individual woman.

“Until the end of March, we will treat up to 20 Lanarkshire residents per month who traditionally would have been treated in Glasgow.”

Figures released last year showed Glasgow’s health board has the lowest uptake for breast cancer screening in Scotland.

Only 67.7 per cent of eligible women were screened by NHSGGC, while NHS Lanarkshire and NHS Lothian also fell below the national standard with 69.4 and 69.8 per cent of women being screened respectively.

Women aged between 50 and 70 years old are invited for screening every three years.