Lower rates of radiation treatment

The South Canterbury District Health Board (SCDHB) coming out bottom on a measure for cancer treatment might not be indicative of the level of service it provides, the Ministry of Health says.

The SCDHB has the lowest percentage of all DHBs in New Zealand for the proportion of cancer cases treated at least once with radiation therapy.

The statistic was included in the National Radiation Oncology Plan (NROP), which outlines the Ministry of Health’s strategy for tackling the disease over the next five years.

However if Labour is elected in September, cancer treatment across New Zealand could be decided by a new national body.

On Sunday Labour leader Andrew Little unveiled a plan to create a National Cancer Agency, to end what he described as the current ‘‘post code lottery of cancer care’’.

‘‘People in Northland have a lower rate of radiation treatment than those in Canterbury. That’s not right. It’s not fair.’’

Labour’s cancer agency, which would cost around $20 million to set up and get under way, would set targets to reduce death rates and make sure clinical trials were available to Kiwis from anywhere in the country.

The NROP national figures for cancer treatment showed the SCDHB had the lowest percentage of patients treated with radiation therapy.

A measure called the Intervention Rate assessed the proportion of cases of cancer treated at least once with radiation therapy.

While the national intervention rate was 37 per cent, the rate for the SCDHB was 28 per cent.

Ministry of Health Manager Cancer Services Dawn Wilson said the statistic needed further investigation ‘‘to assess whether, and to what extent, this variation is unwarranted’’.

‘‘It is inappropriate to use the figures as indicative of the level of service provided by a DHB before further investigation can be undertaken.

‘‘There may be legitimate reasons why some DHBs may have lower intervention rates than others, for example the age profile of a DHB or patients choosing an alternate treatment option, despite being offered radiotherapy.’’

SCDHB board member Murray Cleverley said he was ‘‘quite surprised’’ the health board was ‘‘that far down’’ the scale of Intervention Rates.

‘‘Remember it doesn’t take many to change percentages quite quickly,’’ he said.

Cleverley also cautiously welcomed Little’s plan to create a new national agency around cancer treatment, as long as it didn’t add further red tape to the health sector.

‘‘We all need to have access to the same level of health care. Some may have to travel a little bit further ... but access has to be exactly the same.

‘‘What we don’t want, though, is just another layer of bureaucracy. That certainly doesn’t help.’’

SCDHB chief medical officer Steve Earnshaw said it worked closely with its neighbouring DHBs through the Southern Cancer Network, one of four such networks in New Zealand.

‘‘Ensuring equitable access is a priority for the group, who are using technology to ensure patients are able to receive expert care no matter where they live.

‘‘In South Canterbury we are seeing steady improvement on our Faster Cancer Treatment health target, up from 72 per cent in quarter three in 2015/16 to 81 per cent in quarter three 2016/17.’’