'Great regret' at wait for cancer treatment

TAURANGA - A cancer specialist has apologised to Waikato and Bay of Plenty doctors for unacceptable delays for radiation therapy at Waikato Hospital.

Radiation oncologist Charles Kodikara said in a letter to GPs and consultants that it was with great regret he had to inform them of the long waiting times.

He said Health Waikato had a shortage of therapy radiographers and was down from three to two machines to carry out the treatment, which kills cancer cells and gives respite from pain.

He said patients were waiting only a week to 10 days for referral to a specialist clinic, but after that the delays in actually receiving treatment were unacceptable.

"As a clinician working in a large institution there is little I can do to solve the problem."

The solution was "administrative and political."

The Medical Association Bay of Plenty chairman, Jeff Friis, said that while there was not a bottomless pit of money to fund health services, cancer was a special case with its deep emotional element.

He said a six-week wait for relief seemed a lifetime to some patients. It was disappointing that a specialist had felt obliged to apologise.

Dr Friis said Health Waikato's problems were a legacy of the National Government's drive for efficiency, which had been aimed at cutting fat from the system but had taken off some of the meat as well.

The hospital had queues everywhere, but Dr Kodikara's letter was such a dramatic illustration of the problems he would forward it to the association's head office in Wellington.

- NZPA