‘Postcode lottery’ rules bowel cancer outcomes

Bowel cancer patients living in Auckland are more than twice as likely to survive surgery than those elsewhere in New Zealand.

It’s an ‘‘unacceptable’’ finding – one which has prompted Bowel Cancer NZ to call for an urgent investigation into the ‘‘wide variation’’ in mortality rates.

The 2019 Bowel Cancer Quality Improvement Report was released by the Ministry of Health on Monday.

It revealed patients in Auckland had a 2.2 per cent chance of dying within 90 days of surgery but in Whanganui – where there were a similar number of patients – 7 per cent died.

Aucklanders were also 80 per cent less likely to be left with a stoma bag (a pouch to collect faeces or urine outside the body).

‘‘Everyone should be able to expect the same level of bowel cancer care no matter where they live,’’ spokeswoman for charitable organisation Bowel Cancer NZ Mary Bradley said.

‘‘It should not be a postcode lottery.’’

The report noted the rate of emergency surgery for bowel cancer was high in New Zealand and that could contribute to worse cancer outcomes overall.

Bradley said the wide variation in mortality rates between district health boards was ‘‘completely unacceptable’’.

Some 1200 New Zealanders die each year from bowel cancer.

It is curable in 75 per cent of cases if caught early.

Bowel Cancer NZ backed the report authors’ call for an investigation, Bradley said.

Professor Sarah Derrett said people aged under 60, with no tertiary qualification, having a poor first experience with a healthcare professional, and people diagnosed in public hospitals instead of private, took longer to obtain a diagnosis.