Cancer patients wait months for treatment

Cancer patients are missing out on precious ‘‘survival time’’, suffering from treatable pain, and experiencing mental anguish while waiting longer than recommended for radiation oncology treatment at all but one of New Zealand’s public hospitals, experts say.

In some cases, a person’s cancer had grown so much while they waited for treatment that they had to have surgery instead, radiation oncologist and Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists (RANZCR) fellow Dr Shaun Costello said.

‘‘Then they have to go back on a radiation therapy wait list again. It’s not a good thing to know you’ve got a cancer growing inside you and no-one is doing anything about it.’’

Up to 50 per cent of cancer patients would benefit from radiation therapy, but this was not possible to deliver in New Zealand because there was not enough specialist staff, he said.

Costello and the New Zealand Cancer Society warned the staffing crisis could result in a total collapse of the service if urgent investment into radiation machines, recruitment and training did not come soon. The only department without long wait times was Waikato Hospital, but the situation at Christchurch Hospital was the worst.

In early November, 365 people were waiting for radiation treatment in Christchurch, and some were having to wait up to four months for it, clinical director of radiation oncology Dr Scott Babington told The Specialist, a Association of Salaried Medical Specialists publication, in December.

The Ministry of Health recommends a maximum waiting time of 24 hours for urgent cases, or up to seven weeks for those with slower growing tumours. Those

with faster growing cancers should see a specialist within one week of being referred and should start treatment within two weeks after that.

The number of Kiwis with cancer is expected to double in the next 20 years, but the health workforce is projected to shrink. Many specialists are due to retire in the next five years. Others are leaving New Zealand for better pay and conditions elsewhere.

Oncology specialists provide surgical, medical and radiation therapy treatment for all kinds of cancer, with many patients needing a mix of all three treatments. Treatment often starts with surgery to remove a tumour and continues with medical and/or radiation therapy.

Dr Matthew Strother told The Specialist some Christchurch patients needing medical oncology treatment were also having to wait for up to four months for a first specialist assessment.

Radiation oncologists – along with rural hospital, respiratory and emergency department specialists – recorded the highest levels of burnout in a survey by the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists last year.

Patients with advanced stages of cancer would lose ‘‘survival time’’ by having to wait to start treatment, and it seemed there was no plan to improve the situation, New Zealand Cancer Society chief executive Lucy Elwood said.

‘‘The wait times are just getting disastrous in many areas.

‘‘The Government really needs to invest in more machines, and also in training the workforce,’’ Elwood said.

The number of Kiwis with cancer is expected to double in the next 20 years.