Oncologist calls longest southern cancer waiting lists ‘shameful’, ‘criminal’

MORE people than ever in the South are waiting for cancer treatment, as waiting lists reach lengths never before experienced.

Last week, the waiting list for radiation oncology treatment was 157 people, a situation oncologist and Southern District Health Board member Lyndell Kelly told a board committee meeting was criminal.

‘‘That is the highest it has ever been . . . it is shameful that we are in this situation and we have been crying out for help for a long time and I am glad that it is being taken seriously now.’’

The OtagoSouthland division of the Cancer Society was equally horrified, and acting chief executive Bob King said while he knew the waiting list was long, the actual figure was far worse than he had expected.

DHBs monitor two different cancer treatment targets, a person with a confirmed diagnosis receiving their first treatment within 31 days, and a person referred with a high suspicion of cancer having their first treatment or other management within 62 days.

SDHB specialist services executive director Patrick Ng said while the SDHB’s cancer treatment rates had deteriorated and it was behind target in both categories, he believed the board’s performance in the 31day measurement could be turned around.

‘‘The 62day performance is more concerning.’’

The waiting list was too high and should be about 70.

Access to medical imaging such as CT and MRI scans was an issue, as was staffing, Mr Ng said.

Attempts to recruit a new radiation oncologist had been unsuccessful, and the board now hoped to attract Australian staff across the Tasman to take up locum positions.

‘‘If we are unsuccessful in that then the fallback is that we will have to outsource.’’

That would come at a cost to the SDHB, he said.

Dr Kelly said the SDHB had some of the worst cancer treatment waiting list figures in the country, and people were waiting far too long for basic scans to be done.

SOUTHERN District Health Board chairman Pete Hodgson has challenged management to be ambitious and push to buy the board a new MRI scanner if one is needed.

The board’s hospital advisory committee meeting yesterday considered a first draft of a proposed radiology strategy, which aims to improve access to medical imaging technology such as CT and MRI scanners.

Such scans are used by multiple specialties and particularly often used to detect and inform treatment for cancers.

SDHB specialist services executive director Patrick Ng said the draft was far from the finished product and that some incorrect figures would need to be amended before the board could make budget decisions based on it.

Mr Hodgson challenged that as too cautious and said if every early indication was that the SDHB needed a new MRI scanner, work should begin straight away on getting one.

‘‘The fact that someone wants to bring a business case back in December is not tolerable . . . I

know that there are a lot of things that need to be considered and that you want to do a thorough job, but if it is selfevident that a second MRI is needed then lets buy . . . [it] and not let the process hold us up.’’

Scanning backlogs have been a major issue for the SDHB for some time, and last year the board approved a new CT scanner for Dunedin Hospital as well as requesting a radiology strategy.