A TULLIBODY woman engaged in a battle for MRI scans for cancer patients has criticised responses from officials, saying "there are people dying while this is going on".

Following a routine examination at the opticians in 2013, Jennifer Lewis was diagnosed with the rare eye cancer ocular melanoma.

She had a procedure for the tumour, has regular check-ups and is offered abdominal ultrasounds to monitor spreads to the liver, common with this disease.

However, she is pushing for a better level of care in the form of MRIs, available for patients in other parts of the UK, which would allow people to act when their cancer develops.

Her petition on the matter has been on the table for 18 months and recent submissions from the Scottish Government do not endorse the move.

It is due to be discussed by the Public Petitions Committee today (Thursday, June 28).

The 53-year, who is now having to pay for MRI scans privately to give her peace of mind, has been left frustrated with its responses.

She says they are “skirting around” and not answering questions, criticising the lengthy back and forth.

Speaking to the Advertiser, Jennifer reiterated the need for health equality across the UK.

She said: “There’s at most 40 to 60 patients in Scotland with this type of cancer.

“All we’re asking for is the same as the Scottish Government policy for other cancers...early detection.

“They keep banging on about early detection, early detection, that’s all we’re asking for.

“Just because we’re rare, we don’t get the same as the big five.

“We want to be offered the same as people with breast cancer, lung cancer and cervical cancer – they get MRI scans.

“If I was to go out and have a sports injury and injure my leg or any kind of limb, you would get an MRI scan to check the bones.

“We’re asking for a scan every six months to check that there’s no spread of this cancer in our liver.”

The mother-of-two has been left feeling “unimportant” and said it is “hard work fighting against the system”.

Jennifer has been working closely with eye cancer charity OcuMel UK.

Jo Gumbs, national director, “It is disappointing Jennifer, as a rare cancer patient, has needed to lodge this petition just so she can feel comfortable with her care.

"Jenni has educated herself and knows people with this type of cancer, should receive an ultrasound or MRI scan of their liver to check for disease.

"In rare cancers, we often do not have hard evidence to fall back on and so doctors typically use their judgement to decide on the right type of scan for each patient.

"Sadly we hear this approach is not adopted in Scotland.

"A multitude of submissions have been made towards this petition and we do not feel the right questions have been answered or do the responses take into account what is correct for each individual person.

"It is worrying that care is being passed down to local hospitals, where there cannot be the level of expertise needed.

"I do hope the committee can help this group of patients and provide them with a route to a scanning programme suitable for them.

"It is difficult to be diagnosed with cancer but to be diagnosed with a rare cancer, can be a totally different experience.

"Uveal melanoma can be aggressive if it spreads and people need the opportunity to start treatment as quickly as possible.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We are delivering safe, high quality, evidence-based healthcare to provide the best services to all people living in Scotland and are informed in our decision making by clinical experts.

"At present there is insufficient evidence for the use of MRI scanning as a screening tool for all patients with ocular melanoma.

“Clinicians across Scotland are pressing ahead with developing Scottish guidelines in consultation with imaging experts in order to gain consensus on liver surveillance, and these will be submitted for approval in due course.”