HUNDREDS of Scots with cancer wait months too long for treatment because of a "two-tier" referral system.

More than a quarter of Glasgow's breast cancer patients, and nearly a third of people with bowel cancer, do not get surgery quickly because they have not been given an "urgent referral".

They do not show up on waiting list targets because they are not covered by guarantees given to the patients identified as urgent in a bid to cut waiting times and improve survival rates.

The patients affected are those who have symptoms that are more likely to be caused by another condition.

But today campaigners called for a new system to rule out cancer first, rather than wait until other tests had been carried out.

Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show 27 Glasgow patients not given an urgent referral were later found to have bowel cancer.

At least one patient waited 209 days before treatment, far longer than the two-month guarantee offered to patients who have an urgent referral.

Among the 58 patients who did get an urgent referral, the longest delay faced was 153 days.

On average, urgent patients were seen within 27 days but it took 97 days to treat the average person with a non-urgent referral.

Urgent referrals with breast cancer should start treatment within one month under government targets.

Glasgow patients started treatment in 32 days on average, rising to 34 days for non-urgent referrals, although the maximum delay they faced was shorter than that faced by at least one urgent patient.

Dr Bob Masterson, the lead clinician for the West of Scotland Cancer Network, said patients got the same treatment once they were diagnosed with cancer, regardless of the original referral.

But delays were caused at the start for patients referred with something else.

He said: "For example, the vast majority of people with piles do not have cancer but colorectal cancer is one of the things associated with piles".

A patient referred with the minor condition might be found to have bowel cancer, but their GP would not have had any reason to give them an urgent referral.

Ian Beaumont, the campaign director for Bowel Cancer UK, said: "We have to move to a more pro-active system ruling out cancer first, not last."

A spokeswoman for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said there were no targets for non-urgent referrals but added: "Across the west of Scotland we are meeting the target for just under 80% of patients with colorectal cancer and approximately 93% for those with breast cancer. We are continuing to work to improve both."

The board added it had streamlined its bowel cancer services, allowing many urgent and non-urgent referrals to bypass outpatient clinics and go straight to urgent examination and treatment.