 The final item of business is a member's business debate on motion 10584, in the name of Willie Coffey, on pancreatic cancer awareness month. The debate will be concluded without any question being put. I would ask those members who would wish to speak in the debate to please press the request-to-speak buttons and I call on Willie Coffey to open the debate. Mr Coffey. Presiding Officer, thank you once again and thank you to all the members who supported the motion to enable us to highlight the issue of pancreatic cancer during this month of November. The Parliament has a good record of doing this and I would like to acknowledge the efforts of my colleague Claire Armson, who has been at the forefront of bringing this subject to our attention over many years. Members might also recall the moving speech from our former colleague John Scott, who spoke very movingly in 2020 about his illness and his recovery. It was one of those moments in the life of this Parliament when we can all be grateful for the opportunity that we have to come to this place and share some of the important things in life. No doubt we will hear from members across the chamber of their own family experiences or those of constituents. I am no different. My mother died from this disease in 1985 and, although that seems almost half a lifetime ago, I can assure you that it is as painful today as it was then. It never gets any easier for me or my sister Helen and our family who remember her and still miss her. I am grateful, as ever, to the team at Bankreatic Cancer UK and, I think, some of the colleagues who are in the gallery tonight, and I welcome them there, who provided us with some really helpful facts and figures about this particular cancer. If one message comes from the briefing that they provided, it is this. If we act quickly, we can save more lives. More than half of the people who get this cancer will not survive more than three months from their diagnosis. Around 70 per cent of people will not receive any treatment, only one in four will survive beyond a year, and only 12 per cent of people who are diagnosed actually use the various support channels that are in place. Alarmingly, too, most people cannot name the most common symptoms that may and I stress may indicate Bankreatic Cancer. Anyone experiencing one or more of the most common symptoms—back pain, indigestion, tummy pain and weight loss—for more than four weeks should contact their GP. Anyone experiencing jaundice should head straight to A&E to have this checked. I stress again, Presiding Officer, that those may not necessarily be indicators of Bankreatic Cancer, but it helps to know those symptoms and get checked out as quickly as possible. Those are all pretty desperate and alarming statistics, but it can change. There is some light at the end of the tunnel. The Scottish Government has specifically committed to improving Bankreatic Cancer survival rates in its cancer plan. Through the Scottish Diagnostic Pathway Improvement Project, the aim is to speed up diagnosis and to help to improve the care that we offer to Bankreatic Cancer patients in Scotland. Within the pathway, according to Bankreatic Cancer UK, Scotland is leading the way in speeding up diagnosis, which is critical for patients, and the early results are encouraging. As I said at the outset, time is critical and speeding up all aspects of the patient journey are so important. The indications from the pilot are that people are getting multiple tests as soon as possible, and so far, around 12 per cent of patients in the pilot health board areas are getting that all-important early diagnosis that can save their lives. This pilot is only funded for two years, and clearly, if it is helping them, I am certain that the Government will consider extending this work, and hopefully the minister might say something about that later. Bankreatic Cancer UK's Don't Write Me Off campaign focuses in on the urgency for this faster and concurrent diagnostic pathways. The need for this was all too evident and painful to read in the case study about the lady from Fife who tragically did not get any treatment due to delays and repeated tests. Research and innovation has a key role to play, and Scotland is also leading the way. Bankreatic Cancer UK has invested over half a million pounds to support research and a variety of awards, particularly the future leaders academy at the Beatson, providing five early career scientists with training and mentorship to help them on their journey to becoming pancreatic cancer specialists. All of those five students managed to complete their PhDs even during Covid, and their work is beginning to leverage in other funding for their research labs. Pioneering research has also taken place towards potentially new groundbreaking treatment for the cancer, which involves immunotherapy treatments. The good work being done by PrecisionPank in Glasgow is still on-going and focuses on matching up molecular profiles of patients with the most effective clinical trials that are available. I am sure that we offer our full support to everyone working in this important area of research. I see this opportunity in this debate as one of the most important contributions that we can make as members of this Parliament. It is about highlighting an extremely dangerous and life-threatening cancer that, even now, as we speak, the public do not know much about. Our job is to bring this to the attention of our constituents, to inform them of the risks, but to offer some reassurance of the great work that is being undertaken to try and improve this situation. Everyone in Scotland must be able to access the services that are giving us so much hope through the pilots and the research. If we can save time, Presiding Officer, we will save lives. I am looking forward to hearing the contribution of other members during the rest of the debate, and with that, I will bring my contribution to a close. I thank Willie Coffey for securing this debate and picking up the baton for this year's debate in the Scottish Parliament. To reassure the sea of purple in the gallery that I might not behold the baton, but I am still running the race with you and everyone who is in the fight to raise awareness of pancatic cancer and to find the much-needed advances in this disease. I also thank Willie again for mentioning John Scott in that very powerful speech that he made about his wife and his own situation. We wish his colleagues hope that they will take their best wishes back to him. It is really important to increase public awareness. As always, I am going to reiterate what some of the symptoms are to look out for. As Mr Coffey said, many people cannot name a single symptom of pancatic cancer, but those symptoms are often commensurate with other conditions. Common symptoms include back pain, indigestion, tummy pain, unexplained weight loss and loss of appetite. Anyone with jaundice should immediately go to an accident in the emergency department. In case public awareness of some of those symptoms is absolutely vital, as early ad diagnosis and intervention is the best way to be able to treat or survive this cancer. I am pleased to say that pancatic cancer awareness is now a firmly held annual fixture in the Scottish Parliament. That in itself is a mark of the progress in bolstering pancatic cancer in the policy agenda in Scotland. Pancatic cancer campaigners, many of whom are in the gallery this evening and many of whom have become friends, are a pleasure to work with. It is their advocacy and the bravery of those with lived experience of the disease that has brought this debate to the chamber for its sixth year. I was delighted to host pancatic cancer UK in the Parliament earlier this month, too. A cross-party contention of MSPs came and took part in a photo call as part of PCUK's Don't Write Me Off campaign on the card and lobby steps. Campaigners were able to speak to MSPs about their experiences in the draw-pin session. I had some difficult but heartening conversations with the campaigners who came along. Nicole MacDonald spoke about her dear friend Danielle, who sadly lost her life to pancatic cancer in June. Nicole and Danielle's mother Diane spoke with such passion and warmth of this really young woman and her resilience was evidence in their thoughts. Danielle's right humour following her diagnosis may have been a point of occasional frustration to her mother and Nicole, but it was a wonderful mark of her character in the face of such tribulation. I never had an opportunity to meet her, but from speaking to Nicole and Diane it was clear that, throughout her illness, Danielle remained indelibly herself. I was utterly touched that Nicole gave me the pin I'm wearing this evening and I will wear it proudly out every November in memory of Danielle. I thank her once again for coming to speak to us about her. I've previously spoken about a cause of optimism, a quality that's hard to come by when you're talking about pancatic cancer. The central cause of optimism is that, with early intervention, pancatic cancer can be survived. There are innovations in treatment across Scotland. I spoke previously about the exemplary work of Precision Prank in Glasgow. NHS Scotland has lost a new initiative with the innovative virtual cancer care team to speed up the diagnosis and treatment for those with two of the deadliest forms of pancatic cancer being one of them. A Scotland-wide two-year project included in the recently published cancer action plan for Scotland were triage patients who have been referred by local healthcare teams for suspicion of pancatic cancer. That should allow for swift diagnosis and reduced delays. Other promising developments include a clinical study to develop a breath test that could detect pancatic cancer. A team at Imperial College London, led by Professor George Hannah, is studying how breath samples taken in GP surgeries could ensure people with early pancatic cancer symptoms, which can be been taken for other things. Pancatic cancer could be ruled out at a very early stage if that test becomes available. Pancatic cancer UK puts it, we need to go faster. Many times, when I was speaking about this disease, what are weeks, months and years for other cancers are seconds and minutes and hours when it comes to pancatic cancer because it can be such an aggressive and such a short time that people have to deal with it and live with it after diagnosis. That is the pivot that we have to meet. We have to get there earlier, we have to give people, as Linda Murray always says, I have to just give people a chance. I would like to start by thanking Willie Coffrey for securing this evening's debate and welcoming those who have joined us in the public gallery this evening. I would also like to pay tribute to Clare Adamson, because she has committed to bringing this debate forward in all the time that I have been in Parliament. I very much thank her for this opportunity in the past because this has become an important point for us as a parliament to come together and consider the issues. Many of us in the chamber will have personal knowledge of someone who has suffered from pancatic cancer, be it a family member, a friend, colleague or constituent. That is one of the things that I certainly always move by people who contact us beyond those debates. I would like to thank colleagues for mentioning John Scott and his personal experience in the speech that he made in one of those debates. I saw John at the Highland show this year, he is doing well. He is always emailing us to keep us on our toes in Parliament, so it is always good to see and hear from John, and he is doing well, so I thank colleagues for their comments. As Willie Coffey outlined, the real cruelty of the disease and pancreatic cancer is especially hard to detect. That, allied with the lack of timely treatment and care, means that the chance of best quality of life is significantly altered and lowered by many people who discover cancer often in an A&E setting. Just under 900 people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer every year in Scotland, and pancreatic cancer survival has not shown any real improvement over the last 50 years. In Scotland, pancreatic cancer is the deadliest common cancer with more than half of people dying within the first three months of diagnosis and seven out of all people receiving no treatment. Last year, I raised a number of issues around decisions to treat and a call for long-term funding to embed the learnings of the Scottish Diagnostic Pathway Improvement Project into our NHS, and it is good to see some of the work that is happening around that. I was pleased with others to attend the pancreatic cancer UK drop-in recently-helding Parliament and speak to a number of patients and family members around their issues that they wanted to raise and see change around. The pancreatic cancer UK has worked with experts across the field to develop faster, fairer and funded optimal care pathway that will inform how best to diagnose, treat and care for pancreatic cancer patients. I think that making a decision to treat is something that we still need to see far more work taken forward. The cancer workforce planning is critical to this, and funding for specialist pancreatic cancer roles in every health board across Scotland, for example. The delivery of the workforce plan in the Scottish Government's cancer plan needs to be the number one priority, I believe, for us to be able to achieve what we want to see in this. I very much welcome the Scottish Government that has committed to improving pancreatic cancer survival, but we now need to see what that looks like in reality within the plan. That requires action, not just words, if we are to ensure that improvements become a reality. It is hoped that, by implementing the optical care pathway, significant progress can be made to improve treatment for people and that decision to treat importantly being taken. If we are to see that work significantly progressed, we need to see what is an opportunity for Scotland—the doubling of treatment pathways—and the survival rates that we can see. That would see around 400 more people in Scotland living longer and better lives over the next five years. Although we have to be honest—and I think that this debate always is an honest debate around the current statistics, painting that challenging picture—we know that early diagnosis and treatment can improve the lives with people with pancreatic cancer. Scotland does have an opportunity to lead the way in the United Kingdom in how we improve survival and treatment of pancreatic cancer. With focus and determination, we can help to move Scotland and the UK from one of the worst-performing countries to one of the best, I believe. Everyone in the chamber has a duty to their family, friends and constituents to hold the Government to account on that. We stand by the commitments that we have made to try to improve those survival rates. For those in Scotland suffering from pancreatic cancer, as others have mentioned, time is a luxury that they do not have, so we must act now and make this a priority. I have spoken in every debate since I was elected and that is because I know that we can make a difference. I know that each campaigner that I have met—an individual and family who I have worked with—who have lost loved ones to pancreatic cancer are demanding that we do better. Like Clare Adamson said, whenever I meet campaigners it is a very odd feeling because you come away with hope on what is such a negative time that they have had because they know that it is not going to make a difference for their loved one, but they are demanding that we make a change for other people's families and loved ones. Today's debate, I hope, shows that we always have them in mind and that we want to continue to work to improve treatment and pathways. Above all, to celebrate the lives of people that we have lost to pancreatic cancer, they are all individuals who we need to celebrate. I hope that today's debate gives us that opportunity to do that. On behalf of Scottish Labour, I welcome the recognition of pancreatic cancer awareness month and World Pancreatic Cancer Day, which is marked tomorrow. It is critical that we take time to mark the times of awareness, and I wish everyone involved with pancreatic cancer awareness month the best in the work that is being carried out tomorrow and for the rest of the month. Raising awareness of illnesses, as other members have said, such as pancreatic cancer, is pivotal to ensuring early diagnosis and improving the prognosis. Indeed, I consider it important to highlight in the chamber, as I have done, like I have spoken in the debate since I have been elected in previous years. The key symptoms are key here. We know that this is the problem that people do not recognise, the key symptoms of pancreatic cancer, which include abdominal or back pain or discomfort, unexplained weight loss or loss of appetite, yellowing of the skin or eyes or itchy skin, a change in bowel habits, nausea or vomiting and indigestion that does not respond to treatment. Knowing those symptoms and seeking medical advice, even as a precaution, can be life-saving or life-prolonging. It is key that we continue to support the public awareness campaigns on this, as all members have said. According to pancreatic cancer UK, only 8 per cent of people can name the most common symptoms of pancreatic cancer, and that is far too low. We know that, and to save and prolong lives, we must increase the numbers significantly. At this point, I would like to thank the various organisations who have contacted me ahead of today's debate and members of the public who have had family members affected. The briefings are always really important and highlight the sheer scale of the challenge that we face when it comes to recognising the destructive nature of pancreatic cancer. We always appreciate the work that has gone in to putting those briefings together for us. We know from research and the importance of research in the chamber tonight that pancreatic cancer is the deadliest common cancer. More than half of people die within three months of diagnosis, and seven in 10 people with pancreatic cancer never receive any treatment often because of that late diagnosis. That is a significant challenge that demands immediate response, as others have said. That is why I give my full support to pancreatic cancer UK's Don't Write Me Off campaign, which sets out three priorities for diagnosis, treatment and care, and by making those things faster, fairer and funded. As I noted, many pancreatic cancer sufferers will not receive treatment and we need that diagnosis and treatment to be much faster. As I often mentioned in the chamber, I want to talk a little bit about inequalities that exist in terms of people seeking support and treatment, the socio-economic health inequalities that create the very deep, divisive and damaging inequalities in our communities also matter in those circumstances, so that we support people whenever they can, go forward, speak to the GP, speak to a local nurse so that they can, even if it is just a precaution, is always worth it. We need to address funding, as has been said. Support for patients in this motion often talks about the fact that we need funding and services, and the NHS is struggling at times, particularly with long waiting times, slow diagnosis and lack of readily available treatment, so we must address that and look at the funding sources for that. The NHS, as I think everybody would agree, is our proudest possession. It certainly is my party's proudest creation, and we would be letting people down if we were not honest about the things that we need to do, so thank you to everyone in the gallery and to all the members who have spoken. I now call Beatrice Wishart to be followed by Gillian Mackay. Thank you to Willie Coffey for bringing this important debate to the chamber this afternoon. I would also like to thank the organisations that provided briefings to the parliamentarians for today's debate, including Pancreatic Cancer UK and Pancreatic Cancer Action Scotland, and for the great work that they do. I note the timeliness of the debate in the middle of Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month with World Pancreatic Cancer Day tomorrow. As others have alluded to, Pancreatic Cancer is the deadliest common cancer with more than half of people dying within three months of diagnosis, many never receiving treatment. The statistics are stark. Scotland is one of the worst five-year survival rates in the world, ranking 32 of 33 countries with comparable data. But there is hope for the future, for early diagnosis which would save lives. Pancreatic Cancer UK's Don't Write Me Off campaign is calling for a faster, fairer, funded pathway through diagnosis, treatment and care. It's estimated that an optimal care pathway could double treatment and survival rates, seeing over 400 more people with pancreatic cancer in Scotland living longer and better lives over the next five years if it was introduced today. The pathway for patients from my constituency is shared between NHS Shetland and NHS Grampian, but, like other areas too often, by the time of diagnosis, there is little time left for the patient. Pancreatic Cancer Action Scotland highlighted in its briefing from its Share Your Story campaign that patients will visit their GP an average of four times before being diagnosed. 43 per cent of all pancreatic cancer cases are diagnosed by emergency presentation. As Willie Coffey suggested in his opening remarks, we all have stories to tell of family or constituents or loved ones. I have permission from the family that I am going to talk about to mention their loved ones. Shetland is an island community. We like to think that we all know each other, and that's true up to a point. In times of loss and deep sadness, we come together to support each other. In the summer of 2019, I attended the funeral of a friend, Alexis. The hall where the service was held was packed. The community was in shock and came to pay respects and offer sympathy to the family for the loss of someone who was held dear and taken from us too young. Pancreatic Cancer had claimed another person. Time moved on, and led by Alexis' husband Bobby, the family did a 26-mile charity fundraising walk for pancreatic cancer. In the spring of this year, we gathered again in the same place for another funeral. This time for Bobby, almost unbelievably, pancreatic cancer had cruelly visited this family again. The children and extended family were dignified throughout, but the pain, grief and heartache etched on the faces of those who loved Bobby and Alexis most was plain for all to see. The loss of Alexis and Bobby has been keenly felt too by their work colleagues. Alexis worked in a local solicitors practice, and Bobby was a successful businessman in the house building sector. The ripples of this devastating disease extend out far into the wider community, and Alexis and Bobby are deeply missed by so many. To conclude, as the motion highlights, survival rates for pancreatic cancer have barely changed in 50 years, and we need to change that. More needs to be done to help us to reverse the stark numbers. More research and early diagnosis are the main cause, which I am sure all of us in the chamber support. We need to move faster. We cannot have another lost 50 years. I thank Willie Coffey for bringing forward this debate and for sharing his personal story, and I pay tribute to Clare Adamson for her work on that as well. I thank the organisations involved in the support of those with pancreatic cancer, including Pancreatic Cancer UK, who have provided tireless and invaluable support to those with cancer and who are the UK's leading funding specialists into pancreatic cancer research, driving innovative research to find breakthroughs that will change how we understand, diagnose and treat pancreatic cancer. As Beatrice Wishart just said as well, pancreatic cancer action do great work in raising awareness of symptoms and the stories of those who have direct experience of pancreatic cancer. Although survival rates have improved enormously for most cancers, for pancreatic cancer, that is sadly not the case. Currently, more than half of people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer pass away within three months. With the majority of cancer, early detection and awareness of symptoms are essential in identifying cancer early. However, with pancreatic cancer, that is difficult due to the generally vague symptoms that it presents. Symptoms of mild back pain, indigestion, tummy pain and nausea symptoms that often sound like stomach upset and other illnesses are often dismissed. I met a constituent at a parliamentary reception earlier this session, and I was given a card with a short version of their family story, and it stayed on the pin board in my office ever since. I wanted to share it today in their words, because it so clearly demonstrates how difficult and devastating this cancer can be. Until 2013, we knew nothing about pancreatic cancer. In December 2012, our daughter, who turned 25 that month, had extreme vomiting, which was initially thought to be a norovirus. Due to her getting no better and losing weight rapidly, she saw a GP on 7 January 2013. Due to extremely high Billy Rubin levels, she was immediately admitted to hospital where she had a number of tests carried out. On 18 January 2013, our world fell apart when our daughter was diagnosed with stage 4 inoperable pancreatic cancer. She had a four-year-old daughter at the time when they both moved in with us to enable us to care for our daughter and granddaughter. She deteriorated rapidly and, on 2 June 2013, she passed away leaving a heartbroken family. No parents, child, brother and grandparents should have to go through this. As we have heard from many others this evening, early detection saved lives. Currently, three in five of people with pancreatic cancer are diagnosed with inoperable cancer. The vague symptoms mean that it is difficult for GPs to identify those who need urgent referral for further investigation. We need new tools to help GPs to identify pancreatic cancer in an earlier stage, and technology that has been mentioned earlier, such as the breath test that is being developed in tandem, between pancreatic cancer UK and Imperial College London, looks very promising. Those innovations will be essential in addressing the inequalities that are currently experienced in this cancer treatment. The new Scottish diagnostic pathway improvement project is an initiative set up to improve care and speed up diagnosis time for pancreatic and hepatocellular carcinoma. The pathway is demonstrating positive results with the time it takes for scan results coming back to the referring clinician being reduced to just two days from an average of around eight days. It allows treatment and support to start more quickly and support to be put in place to prevent people from deteriorating quickly. Due to the current late diagnosis of this, we need to do everything that we can to improve survivability for those who develop pancreatic cancer, but beyond that we need to ensure that for those whose cancer is not survivable that they have all the support that they require. The early experience of a constituent of mine that I shared shows that this is more than just a health issue. We need to ensure that where people have very little time left, they can get access to the support that they need to make the most of the time that they have left with their families, and that those families have the support that they need after their loved one has passed away. Work to ensure that the public know the symptoms, that those who suspect that they do have pancreatic cancer get easy and quick testing, and that those who are diagnosed get the quick treatment that they need, needs to be prioritised to ensure that, as Willie Coffey said, we save time and save lives. I am grateful to my colleague Willie Coffey for securing this important debate on pancreatic cancer awareness month. I know that this is an issue close to his heart, having lost his own mother to this horrific disease. Since being elected in 2021, I have spoken in two previous debates on pancreatic cancer awareness month, brought to the chamber by my colleague Claire Addison MSP. It is an issue that I will always feel is so incredibly important to speak on, and we, as elected members, are fortunate to have the platform that we do, so we must use it to raise awareness and fight for better survival rates. This horrible disease has sadly taken too many of my constituents, and I will pay tribute to them later in my speech. This awareness month is so important, and I take this opportunity to thank all the charities who do so much to raise awareness throughout the month, but all year round. Pancreatic cancer deserves much more attention than just for a month, and that is because it is one of the most deadliest of all common cancers, with a five-year survival rate of 7.3 per cent. There are over 900 new pancreatic cancer cases in Scotland and 10,500 in the UK each year. Unfortunately, only 10 per cent of patients are diagnosed with time for life-saving surgery. According to Pancreatic Cancer Action Scotland, patients will visit their GPs on average four times before being diagnosed. That is worrying. We know that early detection saves life, so GPs play such an important role in that. If not detected and left to spread, it can often be too late for any form of treatment. That is why we need to do more, not just this month, but every month to increase awareness of the symptoms among the public and GPs. The signs and symptoms that may indicate pancreatic cancer, some of which have been mentioned already, are jaundice, upper abdominal pain or discomfort, mid-back pain, pale and foul-smelling stools, loss of appetite, indigestion, nausea and vomiting, new onset of diabetes, fatigue, changes in bowel habit and unexplained weight loss without trying. Improving awareness of the symptoms can and will save lives, and that issue is incredibly upsetting and can be very bleak when we look at the figures. I think that it is also important to highlight what positive news there is. We have to have hope, do not we? It really is. If we do not have hope, what have we got? It is really inspiring to hear that Pancreatic Cancer UK have this year funded a new clinical study to develop a breath test that could detect pancreatic cancer early enough to save thousands of lives per year. In the research conducted by the team at Imperial College London led by Professor George Hanna, we are studying to see whether people can have early pancreatic cancer symptoms, which are often mistaken for other less serious health conditions that are instead rapidly referred for scans in life-saving treatment. If successful, that could make the single biggest difference to pancreatic cancer survival rates in 50 years. That would give those who are the first port of call for many health concerns the tools to make such a difference. That would be absolutely heartbreaking and a breakthrough. I really hope that the team is really successful, and I wish them well. In conclusion, I want to pay tribute to my constituents who have lost their lives because of pancreatic cancer. Helen, Donald, Billy and Christine will be forever missed but never forgotten, and their memory lives on the family are resulting their determination to find a cure for this disease. I really will continue in their memory to do everything I can to raise awareness of this terrible disease and fight for more research to increase survival rates. We can and we must do more. Thank you. I now call Finlay Carson, who will be the last speaker before I ask the minister to respond. I thank Willie Coffey for bringing this member's debate to the chamber this evening. I am not going to rehearse the stats that we have already heard, but we know that early detection is crucial. It is not acceptable that nearly half of all pancreatic cancer cases are only diagnosed in an emergency situation, because, sadly, it is often spread and too late for any curative treatment. Raising awareness is so important. Two of my friends died of cancer, this horrible cancer, Peter Murray Usher and Mark Cagle. Mark was told of his diagnosis in March 2020. I sometimes look over the WhatsApp messages and photographs that we shared over that difficult time and I have not deleted them. It is not that I need reminded of his mischievous banter because his memory will always remain very clear in my mind, but his WhatsApp response to my initial reaction on him telling me about his diagnosis was to say, yes, and I quoted, it is a bit of a bummer, but I have not given up yet. Dumfries hospital phoned me and told me that there was nothing to be done. Shortly after, he made the decision to undergo treatment in Spain. Many of you will not remember the date that has been significant, but on 14 March, Mark sat on an aircraft in the runway in Manchester for three hours before it turned round and returned back to the gate. Covid lockdown had struck. The country was in lockdown. Mark was not going anywhere. It was an awful situation for him and his family's hopes were dashed. Mark died in August, six months after being diagnosed. He was the same age as me, and dozens of his friends and family lined the route from his home farm to his final resting place. Covid restrictions stopped his comforting him and his wife and his family, and he is missed dearly by his many friends every day. I do not have all the facts surrounding Mark's experience, but I know it is far from ideal, but we do know that with an earlier diagnosis, pancreatic cancer can be survived, and we know that pancreatic cancer comes with huge emotional costs for the patient and their family and friends. Pancreatic cancer UK has provided a very extensive briefing on the facts and figures relating to the disease, but being the last speaker tonight, I thought that many of those stats would have already been raised. I thought that raising awareness of some of the remarkable people who have taken on this terrible cancer head on. One case on pancreatic cancer website involves a father of two, Stefan, who, in 2021, at the age of 52, found out that he had advanced pancreatic cancer that had spread to liver and his lymph nodes. Stefan had undergone a CT scan after suffering abdominal pain. Believing it to be an ulcer or a hernia, he was given the short news by the on-duty oncology doctor that he had in fact stage 4 pancreatic cancer, which was inoperable, incurable, and he would be placed on palliative care. As he said, I had no idea what that was, so he asked. Then the reality dawned when he was told perhaps he had only five or six months to live. Telling his wife and children was incredibly difficult and emotional, and as Stefan said, something he hopes no one has to go through. He began chemotherapy in February 2022, but, after six months, the chemo was making him more ill than the cancer was ever doing. He suffered from severe fatigue, making it difficult to walk, and this prompted him to stop the chemotherapy. Anxiety was brought on by worrying over his finances and how his family would manage when he died. Stefan suffered a many breakdown. He didn't sleep, he came very inward and would physically shake and flinch. Stefan's life had changed so much. I think more so for my wife. Helen is always there, making sure that I do what I'm supposed to, but she's always there for the children, too. Her attitude and her conviction to all of us as a family is so important, inspiring and motivating, and it keeps me going. Bravely, he says that the family takes every day as a bonus and tries to enjoy it the best they can. Markably, through all that, Stefan has started a fundraising campaign to help improve facilities at his local hospital. In 15 months on from his diagnosis, he's still here but having to live each day as it comes. I think that we'll all agree that he deserves enormous credit for sharing his brave fight against this cancer. His story and the many others who share their story on the pancreatic cancer UK site should be commended for the brave efforts to raise awareness. Pancreatic Cancer UK have recently launched Don't Write Me Off, a campaign calling for a faster, fairer, funded pathway for people with pancreatic cancer through their diagnosis, treatment and care. Implementing an optimal care pathway could make a major difference to the lives of people affected by pancreatic cancer. It could in fact double treatment and survival rates and see around 400 more people with pancreatic cancer in Scotland living longer and better lives over the next five years if it was introduced today. Scotland is leading the way in pancreatic cancer innovation with pancreatic cancer UK currently investing 520,000 in Scotland's cancer research. Mark didn't want written off, Stefan doesn't want written off and we should make sure that the Government doesn't write them off. More needs to be done and done quickly and we all need to play our part in making that happen. I now call the minister Jenny Minter to respond to the debate. I would like to thank my colleague Willie Coffey for bringing this motion to the chamber tonight and reminding us of the impact that pancreatic cancer can potentially have on all of us. In addition, I'd like to thank and also welcome all the work that pancreatic cancer UK and pancreatic cancer and all the other charities supporting those with pancreatic cancer do and also welcome them to the Parliament. I'd also very much like to thank all my colleagues for sharing such valuable contributions to the debate. I'm always very taken and moved by the experiences that we can share in this chamber and I think that Marie McNair is absolutely correct that we are in a fortunate position to have this platform. I think that the stories that Finlay Carson, Beatrice Wishart and Gillian Mackay have all shared and others are incredibly powerful and go a long way to raise the profile and awareness of pancreatic cancer in Scotland and further afield. I'd also very much like to thank my colleague Claire Adamson because it was through her that I learned more about pancreatic cancer and commend the work that she has done within this Parliament and really putting the person into the numbers. I think that's incredibly important. As I was preparing for this debate I received an email from one of my constituents, similar to what Miles Briggs was talking about, and I agree with him when he talks about the challenging picture and if I can quote from that email, it is a cruel, hard-hitting disease with devastating effects. I hope that this debate will fuel the awareness that is so desperately needed for the world's toughest cancer. Earlier diagnosis is key for this disease and I hope that change is about to come to a cancer that has had no improvement in 50 years. I think that that highlights again what a number of contributions have said about the fact that families, people who have experienced pancreatic cancer, are remain involved for that hope to make the change. We know the dreadful impact that a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer can bring to the person facing the disease and their family, as Finlay Carson has highlighted. The importance of person-centred care cannot be stressed highly enough to ensure that all patients get access to support throughout their cancer journey and that their voices and needs are heard. The Scottish Government continues to support the single-point-of-contact programme in 12 sites across Scotland. That programme sets out to make sure that all patients have a constant point of contact throughout their cancer pathway to continually refer back to, rather than needing to make new contacts as they go along their testing treatment and post-treatment support. The single-point-of-contact will ensure that patients are receiving timely and accurate advice on their appointments, tests and results. They will also offer the opportunity to discuss non-clinical support that is available, including linking them with other organisations that can provide the support that is needed. As we know, November is pancreatic cancer awareness month. To recognise that, we will again light up St Andrew's house in Victoria, a key purple on world pancreatic cancer day, raising awareness of pancreatic cancer. Its common symptoms are crucial in detecting this devastating cancer early. I thank members for emphasising those symptoms. We know that the earlier cancer is detected, the easier it is to treat, which is why we continue to invest in our detect cancer earlier programme, taking a whole systems approach to early detection. It covers primary care, secondary care, public awareness, data and screening. I hope that most, if not all of you, have seen our awareness campaign be the early bird this year. The campaign aims to reduce the fear of cancer and empower and encourage those with possible symptoms to act as early as possible. By continuing to invest in cancer diagnostics and waiting times, we are striving to detect cancer earlier and faster. We are optimising diagnostic pathways and activating additional rapid cancer diagnostic services. I would therefore encourage anyone with unusual or persistent symptoms to contact their GP as soon as possible. The Scottish Government published our ambitious new cancer strategy in June this year. Over the next 10 years, our strategic aim is to improve cancer survival and provide excellent, equitable and accessible care for all people facing cancer. The strategy takes a comprehensive approach to improving patient pathways and cancer from prevention and diagnosis right through to treatment and post-treatment care. We continue to have a focus on the less survivable cancers, including pancreatic cancer, and improving their outcomes. We have established the national oncology transformation programme to review and optimise our service models to make this happen, including workforce and training requirements. Our workforce is central to delivering the outcomes of the strategy and plan. As Willie Coffey said, we are determined to improve cancer survival rates and have provided over £650,000 to the Scottish HPE network to develop a pathway improvement project—pilot project—for liver and pancreatic cancers, which is now live across all health boards. We look forward to the results of this pilot to improve patient experiences, and a full evaluation of the project's achievements against aims will be completed to inform decisions about future funding. In closing, I would like to make clear the Scottish Government's enduring commitment to improving pancreatic cancer awareness. In doing so, we can improve early diagnosis rates as well as improve patient experience and overall outcomes. I spoke in this debate two years ago, so I will finish with the same words today as I did then. They are the simple and honest words from a family who lost a loved one to pancreatic cancer. They ring true for any illness, but even more for pancreatic cancer to keep listening to your body. It is crucial that we continue to raise awareness of cancer symptoms, particularly among those with less survivable cancers such as pancreatic cancer, and I would like to gratefully thank all those who are helping to do so. Thank you Minister. That concludes the debate, and I close this meeting.