$2m spent sending NZ breast cancer patients to Australia

The Government has spent nearly $2.1 million sending women to Australia for breast cancer treatment as waiting times for radiotherapy stretch longer than three months.

Some Canterbury and West Coast women have waited 14 weeks for radiation treatment while women in the North Island are waiting up to 12 weeks.

Health Ministry figures show 138 women have been sent to Sydney's Royal North Shore Hospital for radiotherapy since December 2001, at a cost of $15,000 each.

In the past six months, eight Canterbury women have travelled across the Tasman for treatment.

One Christchurch woman was yesterday receiving treatment in Sydney, and another was about to go there.

Health Ministry spokesman Peter Abernethy said three more women were booked to receive treatment in Australia.

Cancer Society Canterbury-West Coast chief executive Liz Chesterman said she was pretty annoyed that women were being sent to Australia.

She said the real concern was that women were being told how important early diagnosis was, but follow-up treatment was not available.

Christchurch Hospital oncology clinical director Chris Atkinson said the number of women waiting 12 to 14 weeks fluctuated weekly depending on how many patients needed urgent radiotherapy.

"I think locally we are managing it responsibly," he said. "But it's still a heck of a struggle to maintain staffing."

Dr Atkinson said the option of going to Australia for treatment was offered to most people.

"The majority don't want to go. Why would they when their support system is at home?" he said.

If more people took up the Australian option, it would help trim the waiting lists, but it was not a quick fix.

"The problem isn't going to go away, it requires resources," said Dr Atkinson. "Even if we resolve the current problems by training more radiotherapists it will get us back to where we ought to be."

National Party health spokeswoman Lynda Scott said women with breast cancer were being let down by the Government.

"It is absolutely not good enough," she said. "We need a shared public-private system for radiotherapy.

"Women would pay to have treatment. It costs $5000 to $6000 for a course of radiotherapy treatment so it is not really that expensive and it would leave more space in the public system."

- NZPA