Progress comes in tiny steps for those fighting health system

The Gisborne couple who have watched their daughter battle not only invasive cervical cancer, but the health system for six long years, know progress comes in tiny steps.

Yesterday they discovered it is a slow process for everyone - noting that "not even the Government can hurry progress up" when it comes to health systems.

The couple have supported their daughter through court actions, medical tribunal hearings, and seemingly endless appeals.

The woman is known to Herald readers only as Jane. Her identity is suppressed by the courts, which also means we cannot identify her parents.

But without them there may never have been a ministerial inquiry into cervical screening in Gisborne - which was sparked by Jane's lengthy court action.

And for them it's far from over.

Next year they will support their daughter's fight in the Privy Council for compensation.

Jane's parents were among about 40 people in the Opal Lounge of Gisborne's Cosmopolitan Club yesterday to hear Health Minister Annette King deliver a progress report six months after the release of the inquiry's report.

It found that Gisborne pathologist Michael Bottrill and the Ministry of Health should share the blame for the under-reporting of smears that led to dozens of women developing cervical cancer. Many have since died.

The report included 46 recommendations that, once adopted, should prevent such errors occurring again.

Mrs King detailed the progress made on 45 of those recommendations - 37 are in the process of being implemented and eight have been completed.

But for the victims of Gisborne, that was not quite enough.

"Reports, reports and more reports," one elderly woman sobbed.

"They still don't get it - this is about people. When will they look past their bloody reports and see that we are people?"

"It's slack," said another. "What the hell have they been doing?"

Many at yesterday's public meeting had sat through last year's 12-week inquiry.

A lot had lost sisters, wives and friends to a cancer that might well have been caught had the proper systems been in place.

Mrs King and other health officials heard that the problems had not stopped, as two women spoke of their difficulties in getting treatment.

Ruth Eketone broke down as she asked why her smear results were always different.

Frustrated and frightened, she despaired of another trip to Hamilton for more tests in a lengthy series that has yet to give her a clear answer. "I can't bear it. Why isn't it just straight?" she asked.

Another woman demanded to know why Gisborne women did not have easy access to care.

Her specialists were in Palmerston North, and it was difficult to get appointments.

She had already been off work for more than a year.

"I don't know if I'm going to live for the next 30 years.

"Worse, I don't even know if I've got a confirmed appointment with my surgeon in December. That's just next month."

She told officials: "I want an assurance from you that Gisborne women are just as important as anybody else in this country."

Both women were offered the chance to have their situations assessed.

For others it was too late for that.

Lex Schoffelmeer lost his wife, Ahenata, to cancer - not just cervical cancer.

When she died her body was riddled with it.

"But what has been done to re-educate the GPs so this won't happen again?" he asked Mrs King.

"Letters being sent out next week to make sure they understand about screening properly is a very small, very late effort.

"The weakest link has just been left to carry on."

Jane's parents agreed and after the meeting said that what the "endless Government reports" lacked was accountability.

"It's definitely not unfair to look to the doctors in this town and ask why they did nothing to stop this," said Jane's mother.

"Of course they knew what was going on.

"It's just ridiculous that in this country you have to have a sacrificial lamb to get things moving.

"It's terrible when that lamb belongs to you."