Delay in stem-cell transplants cost province $90M, report finds

Over the past two years, 65 Ontario cancer patients had to travel to U.S. for care

The provincial government could have saved taxpayers an estimated $90 million if it had acted sooner to increase the health system’s capacity to provide stem-cell transplants, the auditor general says.

In her annual report, released Wednesday, Bonnie Lysyk noted that the province was first alerted to the shortage of treatment capacity in 2009, but waited six years to approve capital projects to expand stem-cell transplant projects.

Meanwhile, patients have faced long waits and many continue to travel to the United States for transplants, where they are almost five times as expensive. As a result, patient outcomes have also been affected.

“Earlier planning could have mitigated many many of those difficulties,” Lysyk told a news conference after her report was tabled in the legislature.

Of 14 value-for-money audits conducted by her office, five focused on health care, with findings reflecting the annual report’s central theme that the province needs to do more planning. In addition to cancertreatment services, the auditor looked at community health centres, lab services, public drug programs and public health.

The annual report revealed that in the past two years, 65 Ontario cancer patients have had to travel to the United States for stem-cell transplants, each of which costs $660,000, compared to $128,000 on this side of the border.

It is estimated that another 106 patients will have to be treated in the U.S. over the next four years while the province continues to build its capacity to do more transplants.

Lysyk said that, overall, most cancer patients’ needs are being met, but there are exceptions: “We believe Ontarians with cancer are generally receiving quality care in a timely manner. However, our audit identified areas where still more could be done to meet patient needs.”

Health Minister Eric Hoskins later told reporters that his government has increased funding for stem-cell transplants by 600 per cent over the past five years, with $32 million being invested in capital infrastructure this year alone.

“There is always more work to be done,” he said.

Hoskins said Ontario’s cancer sys- tem is “one of the best in the world.” Compared to other provinces, Ontario has the best outcomes for patients with breast, prostate, lung and colorectal cancers, he added.

But Progressive Conservative health critic Jeff Yurek said it has taken tragic cases to hit the headlines for the government to get serious about the shortage of treatment ca- pacity for stem-cell transplants.

“They ignored that until, unfortunately, there were some high-profile cases of people dying while waiting to get the services they need,” he charged.

A Star investigation last year told of how18-year-old Laura Hillier of Burlington died while waiting for a stemcell transplant.