Six-week wait for chemo patients

By REBECCA WALSH health reporter

Cancer patients in Auckland and Northland for the first time face a wait for lifesaving chemotherapy.

Some are having to wait weeks because of staff shortages and an increasing number of people being diagnosed with cancer.

Oncologist John Childs, clinical leader of medical services at Auckland Hospital, said cancer specialists had been reporting delays in seeing patients for a first assessment and subsequent delays in patients receiving chemotherapy.

The patients had to wait two to three weeks for a specialist's assessment and in some cases waited as long again before receiving the treatment.

In the past most people needing chemotherapy have received it within days.

Auckland Cancer Society chief executive Michael Dudman said some patients were having to wait in excess of six weeks for chemotherapy and he expected the situation to get worse.

The society had received angry phone calls from some patients but most wanted to know what they could do.

"People are pretty stoical about these things but they are also pretty stressed out and don't want to waste their energy battering their heads against a brick wall. No one has the answers yet."

Dr Childs said the hospital was still meeting Ministry of Health guidelines which merely required patients to be seen by a specialist within four weeks of referral. There were no guidelines specifying how soon they should have treatment.

He was not happy that some people had experienced delays but was confident no patients needing urgent treatment would face a wait that would put their lives at greater risk.

"Clearly if the delays become prolonged there's always that risk, but at the moment the risk of that would be very small."

Dr Childs blamed the pressure on a growing and ageing population, an increased incidence of cancer, the wider availability of some chemotherapy drugs and the fact cancers previously not able to be treated with chemotherapy could now be treated.

On average there was a 6 to 7 per cent increase each year in the number of people with the disease, he said.

The department had instigated a project examining problems concerning treatment times and had set up a more rigorous priority schedule to ensure those who needed urgent treatment received it.

Dr Childs said a key issue was the need for more nursing staff and possibly more oncologists. The department now had eight oncologists (some not full-time) and about 11 medical oncology nurses. A decision about staff levels would be made in the next couple of months.

Mr Dudman said: "If these problems are not addressed now all we are doing is compounding the issue and standards of treatment are not going to be what they used to be.

"We have a very good oncology centre here in Auckland but it is under great stress."

Members of the Cancer Society met Health Minister Annette King on July 7 to discuss waiting lists for either chemotherapy or radiation treatment at hospitals around the country.

Mr Dudman said the minister had listened but "she didn't give us any solutions".

A spokesman for the minister said there was always going to be an issue when there were workforce shortages. She had asked the Ministry of Health to monitor the situation.

Chemotherapy

* Chemotherapy is the treatment using drugs capable of destroying cancer cells. The drugs are given intravenously or in tablet form.

* About 1200 people in the Auckland/Northland region are referred for chemotherapy each year.

* Forty-five patients are waiting for their first specialist assessment and about 80 are waiting for their first chemotherapy treatment.