SCOTTISH Labour has branded cancer waits in the NHS a “national scandal” after figures reveal some patients are waiting over a year for treatment.

Data obtained by the party has shown that a patient diagnosed with colorectal cancer waited a shocking 397 days for their treatment to begin — some 335 days longer than the 62 day standard for the condition.

Patients with melanoma, upper gastro-intestinal, and urological cancers such as prostate cancer — all with a 62 day treatment standard — were found to have waited more than 200 days for therapy to begin.