Only 44 per cent of Whanganui cancer patients received treatment within a two month target time set by the Ministry of Health.
The benchmark is 85 per cent and Whanganui is the worst-achieving health board in terms of faster cancer treatment. The 44 per cent is a drop from previous levels of service.
Health board chief executive Julie Patterson said the main cause was a lack of urology services for Wanganui patients.
"We're working to get on top of this problem. We know this has caused delays in treatment for some urology patients."
There had also been delays in accessing investigations for breast cancer diagnosis. However this had been sorted and a review showed breast cancer patients were treated within the 62-day target.
Mrs Patterson said poor health in the community, a large population of elderly people and patients with existing health problems that had to be addressed before starting cancer treatment were other reasons for missing the target by so much.
"Delays are also caused when patients need to be referred to another DHB for specialist investigations and possibly treatment," she said.
"As a smaller DHB we have to lift our efforts in ensuring a timely process to lessen the disadvantage that we face by the extra steps required to send people to tertiary services, and the fact we have less private services available."
Nationally, 69 per cent of people referred for cancer treatment get seen within the two-month target.
In other areas Whanganui DHB has improved access to elective surgery and performed better on heart and diabetes checks. It has increased immunisation rates but remains below the national target.
Wanganui-Rangitikei-Waimarino Cancer Society centre manager Simon Aitken said the latest data regarding faster cancer treatment "does raise questions about the treatment of local residents".
The Cancer Society sits on the Cancer Network Group in Wanganui and is involved in the decisions around the efforts in the area of faster cancer treatment, he said.
"Our population mix with many elderly can contribute to the complex nature of diagnosis and, therefore, the start of treatment. The most important aspect for us is what are the underlying causes for patients going over the treatment time target."
He said the society needed to question if the delays were due to lack of resources in Wanganui or inappropriate delays.
"Julie Patterson has addressed these issues in her statement which refers to issues with resourcing of urology services, limited private providers and extra steps to access tertiary services."
Mr Aitken was reassured that the DHB was looking at each individual case when a target was missed.
The health board gave the Cancer Society a report on underlying reasons for each month's breaches of the target and the next was due soon.
"We will be reading this report to see if the reasons given are acceptable."
-Have you waited for more than two months for cancer treatment and can talk to the Chronicle about the experience? Please call 06 3490728 or email anna.wallis@wanganuichronicle.co.nz