Ministry cost-counts over vital data for cancer inquiry

By FRANCESCA MOLD

A legal bid to release vital information for the Gisborne cancer inquiry is in jeopardy because the Ministry of Health does not want to pay for it.

The inquiry needs the case records of women elsewhere in the country who have suffered cervical cancer, to check whether the rate of under-reporting at Gisborne was happening in other centres.

Under the Health Act, information from the national cervical screening register cannot be released without each patient's consent.

The head of the inquiry, Ailsa Duffy, QC, wants the High Court to rule on whether the law governing inquiries such as hers overrides the privacy provision of the act.

But the ministry has told her it considers a court application too expensive.

Ms Duffy said yesterday that a reluctance to provide finance could affect the planned court application. The panel relies on money from the ministry to carry out the inquiry.

The data was to be used by Otago medical researcher Professor David Skegg for a comparative study of cancer tests in laboratories.

Director-General of Health Dr Karen Poutasi said the ministry, like everyone else, wanted the study to go ahead and was working with Professor Skegg to make it happen.

"We believe it will happen and therefore at this stage we are not convinced it is necessary to go to the High Court," she said.

Ministry lawyers have advised the panel to identify the problem of the legal barrier in its report and leave it up to health authorities to ensure it is addressed.

But Ms Duffy expressed concern at this suggestion.

"On past performance, I have to ask should I leave it to them or should the committee exercise a power to ensure there is an answer one way or another?"

She said the ministry had known about the legal barrier since last year but it had never raised it with the panel.

"If it had been brought to the inquiry's attention at the outset, the issue could have been tested by the High Court at that time and the study could be going ahead right now."

A lawyer for the women affected, Bruce Corkill, said yesterday that it was "outrageous and unethical" that it had taken until the year 2000 to discover there were legal problems.

This showed the ministry had never tried to evaluate the screening programme using the audit method, he said.

In his final submission, Mr Corkill also called for a watchdog to be appointed to ensure that health authorities acted on recommendations from the inquiry.

Herald Online feature: Gisborne Cancer Inquiry

Official website of the Inquiry