Wait times for breast cancer patients reduced: AHS

EDMONTON The amount of time breast cancer patients have to wait for a referral to a program after the discovery of a highly suspicious cancer has dropped by more than 60 per cent in Calgary and more than 30 per cent in Edmonton in two years, Alberta Health Services said Wednesday.

Those numbers, as well as the fact that same-day mastectomies in the province has risen from 22 per cent to 41 per cent in the same period, is being attributed to the health service’s breast health initiative and same-day mastectomy pathways.

Doug Stewart, the senior medical director of the AHS Cancer Strategic Clinical Network, said the improvements came from notifying both primary care offices and breast surgeon’s offices of suspicious findings with standardized clinical recommendations.

Referrals over the past two years have dropped from 22.2 days to 7.5 days in Calgary, and from 14.1 days to 9.3 days in Edmonton.

Provincial breast health initiative medical lead south May Lynn Quan said the mastectomy pathway has resulted in multiple benefits to patients.

“This work means that rather than stay overnight in hospital, more mastectomy patients are returning to the comfort of their own home the same day as their breast cancer surgery,” Quan said.