Issue #911

by David Gibbs, QMG

Sue Fea writes this week on the alarming rise in people in the region with cancer and how it is increasingly afflicting those in their 30-40s. As always, the Cancer Society continues to rise to the challenge, doing incredible work. No wonder it is such a revered and cherished charitable organisation. To my surprise, I wasn’t aware the society gets little government funding and is almost totally reliant on donations from the public and benefactors.

According to Sue’s work the society has seen a 44% increase in demand in the last 12 months. Our region is poorly served by cancer services and the political will to make a difference appears even weaker. Treatment invariably requires multiple trips to a base hospital, either in Invercargill, Dunedin or Christchurch, resulting in significant expenditure on the part of the families just on travel, not to mention time off work, lost income, accommodation and any childcare costs, even before treatment starts.

The staff and care received in these institutions is nothing short of extraordinary, thanks to the dedication of the frontline staff. However, that’s not matched by the timeliness of treatment, the resourcing, nor communication transparency coming from those higher up. This is critically less than what those working at the coal front, the supporting services like the Cancer Society, and most importantly the patients, should expect and deserve.

RNZ recently caught out senior southern region bureaucrats suggesting that the district’s health services were seeing 90% of cancer patients on time, when this was clearly not correct. The number is actually 70%. It is also significantly under resourced with a massive shortage of senior doctors, patched up by ring-in locum doctors. Dunedin will be short five radiation oncology unit seniors, out of eight in total, from next month which will only push more patient treatments onto Christchurch compounding delays and costs. That all gives little confidence to any of us living in the area, nor, I would think, to the Cancer Society.

This is despite Commissioner Morag McDowell’s investigation into the southern region service over the past six years, resulting in a scathing report on the region’s cancer treatment services. It doesn’t seem as if much has sunk in, nor resulted in any cultural change.

A near doubling of demand isn’t sustainable in anyone’s view and I’m sure the society is incredibly frustrated behind the scenes. Demand is exploding while an ongoing shortage of qualified senior doctors and less than ideal Te Whatu Ora Southern strategy or action exacerbates the situation. Meanwhile, the anxiety in those who wait and wait on services is only going to end up with more pressure coming back on the society. Radical answers and some innovative thinking seem to be required, and meanwhile the Cancer Society urgently needs government financial support.