A WOMAN with bladder cancer suffered an "unreasonable delay" in treatment of the disease, according to a report by Scotland's public sector watchdog.

The patient, who has not been named, was diagnosed with bladder cancer in February 2015 but faced repeated delays to appointments to take a sample of the tumour and subsequently had an operation to remove her bladder and lymph nodes postponed when she suffered a heart attack. Nearly year after her cancer was first diagnosed, the woman - known only as Mrs A - was still waiting for surgery. In February 2016, a scan revealed that the disease had spread to her lungs and doctors referred her for palliative radiotherapy instead. She died on May 31 2016.

Although a report by the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman said the delays were not to blame for Mrs A's death, it said there had been "significant failings" in the care provided by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and the "unreasonable cumulative delays" caused distress to her family.

The report detailed how Mrs A waited two months after her cancer diagnosis for a procedure to extract a sample of her tumour for testing. The appointment was "rescheduled several times".

She was later scheduled to undergo surgery to remove her bladder and lymph nodes in August 2015, but when she suffered a heart attack in July 2015 her cancer surgery was postponed due to the high-risk of a second heart attack. She underwent a heart bypass in September.

The report said Mrs A would have been eligible for cancer surgery from December 3, but there was an "unacceptable delay" between her cardiac surgery and eventually seeing a urologist in January 2017.

It said: "When she was seen it was felt that her disease had progressed and a scan was requested. The [urologist advising the Ombudsman] said that, given the extent of the disease progression shown on the scan, even if Mrs A had been seen earlier by urology following her cardiac surgery, it is likely that the outcome would have been unchanged as the disease progression was likely to have already occurred by 3 December 2015."

However, the Ombudsman was told that if Mrs A had been seen sooner "she could have been offered palliative radiotherapy earlier, which would have helped with symptom control and pain management".

A spokeswoman for NHSGGC said: "The ombudsman report published today has made a number of recommendations. We have accepted these in full and are taking the necessary actions to address these.

“We have already reviewed the pathway available to bladder cancer patients to improve the services available and the co-ordination of care and this has been shared with relevant staff,

“We have also highlighted the areas where the patient’s care and treatment fell below expected levels to the relevant staff groups.

“We will now write to the family once again offering our apologies for the failings with this patient’s care."