FIGHTER: David Wright is making the most of the precious time he has left.

Within a month after David Wright, now 62, was diagnosed with prostate cancer he had been told by his doctor at the Western General Hospital in Scotland that the disease had spread so far into his bones that it was “incurable”.

Prostate cancer is now the cause of more cancer deaths in men in Scotland than any other form of the disease, claiming hundreds of lives each year.

Yet new figures released last week revealed that less than half - 48 per cent - of all men diagnosed with prostate cancer in Scotland began treatment within the two month standard set by the Scottish Executive last year.

While the message from David, 62, and prostate cancer groups is that more men should get checked, and therefore diagnosed, more quickly, the statistics raise fears that not enough is being done to treat them swiftly once the disease is spotted.

Sitting in his home in East Comiston, David says: “Prostate cancer is often described as a curable disease made incurable by late diagnosis.

“The most important message for men is not to ignore the signs - like problems with urination - and to get checked out.

“Not many men know this, but all men over 50 in Britain have the right to a simple blood test for prostate cancer called a PSA (prostate specific antigen).

“It is not 100 per cent reliable, and GPs don’t always want to do the test, but it picks up most cases which need further investigation.

“I certainly would not be in the position I’m in now if there had been routine testing.”

“Prostate cancer is a slow-growing cancer, so in a sense waiting times being missed is not as serious as it is for other cancers. Six months might go past from diagnosis and there could be little change in the cancer.

“But that is not to excuse hospitals. They must improve and I think they will.

“I think it’s the silence in the waiting which is more of a problem than the waiting itself. Men don’t know whether to ask their GP or the hospital for test results.”

Full story: Scotsman.com Living - Health - The looming shadow of prostate cancer

David Wright is chair of Edinburgh & Lothian Prostate Cancer Support Group.

Useful contacts: Edinburgh & Lothian Support Group, 0131 445 1960 or 01506 845981 or 0131 5528360 Garner; Prostate Cancer Charity Helpline, 0845 300 8383; Maggie’s Centre (Western General Hospital), 0131 537 3131. or email [email protected] or obtain details of support groups from the Scottish Association’s website, www.prostatescot.co.uk, or email, [email protected], or phone 01738 450415.