New Zealand can’t afford compromised bowel cancer screening – Editorial

Letters were sent to 850 patients in December to say their colonoscopy was on hold. Photo / 123rf

Editorial

• More than 3000 Kiwis are diagnosed with bowel cancer each year.
• It is the second-most-deadly cancer in the country.
• The MidCentral region paused surveillance colonoscopies in November because of high demand and staff shortages.

Health funding is fraught.

With finite resources, rational decisions around funding need to be made about an emotional subject.

Many of those will have been made ahead of this week’s Budget, but one that should have few question marks over it – whether it comes on Thursday or shortly after – is that there is enough funding to ensure the systems we have in place to screen for bowel cancer don’t fall over.

It was revealed last week that about 60 people at high risk of developing bowel cancer were affected by a pause on colonoscopies at Palmerston North Hospital late last year.

The pause came about after the waitlist continued to grow despite efforts to recruit more staff, refer patients to other regions and hold extra sessions on weekends.

Thankfully, the hospital has been able to resume surveillance colonoscopies and is running extra appointments on weekends to cut waiting lists.

It has also outsourced nearly 200 operations to the private sector.

That is encouraging news, but it’s not the first issue with bowel screening in New Zealand.

Last year, an Eastern Institute of Technology study found that over a 10-year period more than 7000 eligible people tried but failed to get proper screening, due to an error with the test or it not being done properly.

So much good work has been done around bowel cancer awareness over recent years.

As a country we have a much greater understanding of the prevalence of the disease and the importance of early detection through checks.

The 60 high-risk people impacted by the pause, for example, had been identified through the National Bowel Screening Programme.

More than 3000 Kiwis are diagnosed with bowel cancer each year and more than 1200 will die from it, according to Bowel Cancer New Zealand.

It is the second-most-deadly cancer in New Zealand, behind lung cancer.

Countless people with a history of bowel cancer in their family need to be vigilant.

But awareness is only useful if action can be taken.

It’s exactly why the Government plans to lower the age for bowel cancer screening from 60 to 58 nationwide.

Though it has faced calls to extend it much further and criticism for scrapping plans to lower the age for Māori and Pacific men to 50.

Funding must be there to staff and deliver these vital programmes, and ensure every link in the chain is robust.

We know there is pressure on the health system.

We know there is pressure on the Government’s books.

But the cost of early detection pales in comparison to the cost of treating more advanced cancer.

Not to mention delivering much-needed peace of mind to the thousands of us at risk of developing bowel cancer.

Investment in our capacity for early screening makes financial sense but money is not even close to the most important thing it will save.

It will save the lives of hundreds of Kiwis.

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