Cancer on move but still waiting for answers
It started with a sharp pain in the right side of his stomach, five weeks ago.
Colin* would find out, via private ultrasound days later, that he had secondary cancer of the liver.
That was on March 14. Then nothing happened for three weeks and two days.
‘‘Sometimes when you have a test, you don’t think anything of it. But I have already been told I have something, so you know the waiting is really bad.
‘‘You just don’t know how bad or where else [the cancer is].’’
More tests were needed – specifically an urgent MRI scan. After two weeks of nothing, his GP followed up the urgent referral with Capital & Coast District Health Board.
The MRI scan became a CT scan – but not until April 6. His GP told him the results – lower colon cancer. But when we talk, he still hasn’t seen a specialist.
It’s left the grandfather of four searching for answers and unable to tell family or his workplace, because he isn’t sure what to tell them. He hasn’t told his children, all of whom have kids of their own.
Meanwhile, he’s quietly rationalised bank accounts and has shown his wife where the pipes to taps are in the kitchen, in case something needs fixing.
He’s been teaching her ‘‘all the things that I would know that she wouldn’t’’.
‘‘I’m doing things like creating a will, enduring powers of attorney. I have done Dr Google. It says for it to have gone to the liver, it has to be a stage four. Stage four, they say, is considered to be treatable but not curable. Already that doesn’t sound that promising.
‘‘I feel quite short-changed not to see my grandchildren grow up for instance. I’m a very DIY-type person, so I kind of feel I would have been the granddad who helped kids build and make things.’’
Colin speaks calmly but his voice shakes at times. He fears how quickly it has grown. ‘‘Within two days, I went from stomach pain to secondary cancer of the liver but no obvious sign where primary was.’’
The Wellington office worker asked not to be identified in an effort to protect his loved ones but wanted to speak out to highlight delays in the system.
Colin signed a privacy waiver, which was sent to Capital & Coast along with five questions. Stuff asked why it was three weeks between Colin’s ultrasound and his CT scan, and why it had been more than a month between cancer detection and his specialist appointment.
The DHB was also asked if Colin’s cancer could have spread further in that time, and whether his wait time was standard for patients in a similar cases.
The final question was whether patients such as Colin were seen with lesser urgency than those who may have a higher chance of survival.
The board refused to discuss his case. In a statement, hospital general manager Chris Lowry said there had been ‘‘an issue’’ that caused a delay in Colin’s treatment.
‘‘Our preliminary investigation into these matters has identified an issue in our process that has resulted in a delay in the patient being seen. We are currently investigating further to determine how that error occurred.
‘‘In general terms, timeframes for seeing patients are assessed by clinicians on a case-by-case basis and determined according to clinical need. We strive to provide our patients with high-quality care in as timely a manner as possible.’’
Wait times for urgent CT scans are between two and three weeks, the board said. Emergency scans can be done immediately but for non-urgent scans, the wait can be up to four months.
This is well short of the Ministry of Health’s target for CT scans, which states 90 per cent of all referrals should be done within six weeks. Capital & Coast only got 62 per cent of referrals scanned within that target time last month.
For MRI scans, it’s even worse. While urgent patients are scanned within three or four weeks, non-urgent patients are spending an average of six months waiting. The board has blamed radiologist shortages and increased demand.
* Name changed
‘‘Within two days, I went from stomach pain to secondary cancer of the liver but no obvious sign where primary was.’’ Liver cancer sufferer Colin*