PATIENTS in Glasgow affected by the cancer that claimed the life of soul legend Aretha Franklin will now have access to a new, dedicated specialist.

The city’s Royal Infirmary has appointed a pancreatic cancer clinical nurse specialist to offer support to those affected and their families.

Scotland sees around 800 new cases of pancreatic cancer diagnosis a year and survival rates at one and five years after diagnosis is the lowest compared to other common cancer.

Only 17.4% of those diagnosed will survive beyond 12-months and only 3.8% will survive beyond 5 years.

She will combine work with the hospital’s pancreatic team, the work of Pancreatic Cancer Scotland and support a ground-breaking research project.

The nurse will also support patients involved ina ground-breaking research project which aims to improve survival rates of patients with pancreatic cancer.

NHSGGC was the first health board to recruit patients to the Precision-Panc trial, which is looking into more personalised treatments for patients and is primarily funded by Cancer Research UK.

The number of new cases of pancreatic cancer in Scotland is expected to increase by 49.9% by 2027.