If you are unlucky enough to get breast cancer, it is vital you are treated as soon as possible. To that end, the Danish health service has set a 27-day period within which an operation should be carried out.

However, figures from the Sundhedsdatastyrelsen health service data agency obtained by the cancer prevention organisation Kræftens Bekæmpelse reveal that 36 percent of women, during the last quarter of 2018, were not treated within the time limit.

READ ALSO: Over 800 Danish women called in too late for breast cancer examinations

The main sinner was the Capital Region, where the figure was 53 percent, reports DR Nyheder.

In a press release, Sophie Hæstorp Andersen, the chair of the Capital Region, called the figures “unacceptable”, promising the region will work to expand capacity, both regarding x-ray scanning, outpatient departments and operations.

Better in the provinces
On the bright side, things look better in the other regions. In Region Southern Denmark, 78 percent were treated on time and in regions Zealand, Northern Jutland and Mid-Jutland the percentages were 65, 66 and 69 respectively.

The Sundhedsstyrelsen health authority has now asked the Capital Region to account for its actions with regard to surgical procedures relating to cancer, radiation treatment for lung cancer, and cancer treatment in general.

Region Mid-Jutland is also in the spotlight, as it has been questioned over the surgical treatment of cancer of the ovaries and lung cancer.

“We know there can be fluctuations in the figures, but I’m certainly not satisfied with the fact that there is such a difference between the regions,” said the health minister, Ellen Trane Nørby.