Focus on cancer care for Ma¯ori

‘‘The boys have been good enough to take me up every year. That is their birthday gift for me,’’ he said.

Baz saw the story about Doug Yarrall and his new wife Thelma on the front page of the Dominion Post a couple of months ago and thought he was just the man for the job.

Baz knew the toughest part of the flight would be getting his dad out of the aircraft, but with the help of a couple of nearby heavies, he was able to wrestle his father from the controls.

Harry flew with the Royal Air Force Coastal Command during World War II and later transported bombers to North Africa, India and Europe. He was based in India for a year.

Born in Feilding, Harry was keen sportsman in his youth. He played rugby for Manawatu¯ . Him and his older brother, who flew fighters in the war, were airplane mad from a young age.

‘‘The boys have been good enough to take me up every year. That is their birthday gift for me.’’

Birthday boy, Harry Hayward

Improving the aftercare of men affected by prostate cancer, particularly those of Ma¯ori descent, is bringing together healthcare professionals from both sides of the Tasman.

The Oranga Tu project, a collaboration between the Movember Foundation and the Urology Society of Australia and New Zealand (USANZ), aims to proactively support Ma¯ ori men and their wha¯ nau during cancer treatment and beyond.

‘‘We actually don’t measure the things that are most important to patients. Obviously they want to survive the disease but [it’s also equally important] they get back to living as normal of a life as possible,’’ the foundation’s Australia and New Zealand CEO Paul Villanti said.

‘‘Remarkably we’re not measuring that ... people leave hospital and we don’t have a clear understanding whether the man who’s been treated for prostate cancer has got back to living his life because we don’t ask.’’

While the outcomes registry aimed to capture all men diagnosed with prostate cancer regardless of ethnicity, the focus was on Ma¯ ori due to inequitable morbidity and mortality outcomes.

Ma¯ ori men are 72 per cent more likely to die of prostate cancer once diagnosed than non-Ma¯ori; dire statistics USANZ vice president Stephen Mark said was the result of a complex system.

‘‘It’s well recognised that Ma¯ ori have a poorer health outcome in prostate cancer and other areas ... it’s not because of being genetically Ma¯ori, it’s partly about navigating the system.

‘‘There are barriers within healthcare and part of this project is to identify what are some of the processes that will improve the pathway for patients going through,’’ he said.

To help gauge the success of the registry, University of Otago researchers will follow some patients through their cancer journey, looking at potential barriers and what could be done to remove them.

While the focus of this year’s Movember funding lay with the registry project, Villanti said the partnership would also fund additional initiatives aimed at improving the health of men with prostate cancer.

That included improving early diagnosis figures, reducing unnecessary highcost treatments and improving surgical care.

‘‘We’re at a really interesting pivot point with a lot of our programmes where we’re moving out of research mode and can move quickly to make these initiatives available across all of the relevant populations.

‘‘We want to entrench, within the entire health system in Australia and New Zealand, this idea of measuring outcomes that matter to patients and giving that data back to clinicians as well as patients.’’

‘‘It’s well recognised that Ma¯ori have a poorer health outcome in prostate cancer and other areas . . . it’s not because of being genetically Ma¯ori, it’s partly about navigating the system.’’

Stephen Mark