Health boards have been urged to take action after delays in diagnosis, poor care and a lack of communication were exposed in a new survey.

Macmillan Cancer Support wants NHS boards to draw up plans to address the issues raised in the first Scottish cancer patient experience survey, commissioned jointly by the charity and the Scottish Government.

The second report on the survey of 4835 patients has been published, providing analysis of the comments left by 55% of the participants.

It found while participants made more positive than negative comments, analysis of the negative comments indicated there were significant issues with patient care.

The report, written by experts at Stirling University, found the main themes among the negative comments were patients not feeling confident within the system and not feeling their individual needs were met.

The most common issue which affected patients' confidence was receiving poor care during treatment.

This came in the form of inadequate management of pain and side effects, infections, problems with treatment or being cared for by staff who did not have sufficient knowledge of cancer.

The report added: "A major issue for participants was feeling that they were not being treated as an individual, with patients feeling isolated and alone within the system of care."

Janice Preston, Macmillan's head of cancer services in Scotland, said: "While it is good news the positive comments outweigh the negative, these negative comments represent people with cancer, already going through one of the worst times of their life, whose experience was poorer than it should have been.

"There is an urgent need to ensure everyone has a good experience of care, moving from our current one-size-fits all approach that sees patients as a set of symptoms to treat rather than as a person who must be asked what they want and need."

Health secretary Shona Robison said: "We jointly commissioned this survey with Macmillan to help us understand where improvements are needed in cancer services and how we can focus our efforts on the areas that people tell us are important to them and where they consider we could do better.

"We will use these findings to help us take forward our new cancer strategy, which is backed by £100m over five years to tackle cancer through prevention, detection, diagnosis, treatment and aftercare - with a continuous focus on improving quality and, vitally, outcomes for people with cancer."

Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesman Alex Cole-Hamilton said: "With patients raising concerns over waits for diagnosis and staffing levels, this survey suggests that staff are overstretched and need additional support.

"Everyone suffering from a serious illness like cancer deserves the best care, delivered as quickly as possible.

"If there are not sufficient staff to allow doctors and nurses to do their jobs to the best of their ability, then this is a real problem."