Surprise as Bay lags in cancer target

Lea Lehndorf

Just over half of Bay of Plenty cancer patients receive their first treatment within two months of being referred on for it - the fifth worst rate in the country, according to new data.

Results for how each district health board measured up to national health targets have been released and showed 57 per cent of cancer patients in the Bay's district health board area had their first treatment within the two-month period.

Bay of Plenty District Health Board said the poor result was because of the data collection method used for a new target called Faster Cancer Treatment.

It was the first time Faster Cancer Treatment had been reported as a health target with the aim of having 85 per cent of all cancer patients receiving their first treatment within 62 days by July 2016.

The Hutt Valley, Lakes, Counties Manukau and Auckland DHBs recorded a lower rate. But Breast Cancer Support Service Tauranga Trust co-ordinator Lea Lehndorf said the figure surprised her.

"I would say the vast number of our patients are being seen within two to four weeks. They are getting a surgery date within two to four weeks," she told the Bay of Plenty Times.

Waiting, at any stage of treatment, was always nerve-racking, she said.

Ms Lehndorf said she had never heard of a breast cancer patient in Tauranga having to wait more than four weeks for treatment.

Maria Low, communications manager for the Waikato/Bay of Plenty division of the Cancer Society, said the organisation had not received any complaints about waiting times.

Kirsty Thomas, of the Child Cancer Foundation, said the data did not include children.

In a written statement, Bay of Plenty District Health Board surgical services business leader Bronwyn Anstis said the 57 per cent result "reflects early days of data collection".

"The Bay of Plenty District Health Board consistently registered 100 per cent compliance against the previous health target - Shorter Waits for Cancer Treatment - and nothing had changed in that level of care.

"Added to this, since the opening of the Kathleen Kilgour Centre, many more Bay of Plenty residents have been accessing timely radiation therapy services closer to home," she said.

"The process to collect accurate data for the new 'Faster Cancer Treatment' target is complex. For example, it includes collecting information from other DHBs for Bay of Plenty domiciled patients who have been referred to another DHB for cancer treatment," she said.

"As not all DHBs have the same IT systems processes have been, and are still being, refined to ensure the required information about treatment dates is obtained. This activity, which is outside of the BOPDHB's control, affects these results."