Hospitals drop radiation option

By MARTIN JOHNSTON

Hospitals have given up sending cancer patients to Australia for radiation therapy, despite a "generous" increase in Government money.

The Herald revealed this week that two women required repeat surgery for breast cancer. They had suffered relapses after being forced to wait too long for radiation therapy at Auckland Hospital.

One of them, 52-year-old Gabrielle Prince, was supposed to wait no more than six weeks, after the removal of a small lump, to start receiving radiation. But when she was about to begin, five months after the surgery, a new lump was found and her left breast had to be removed.

She is angry and demanding answers from the Government.

National has repeatedly demanded that the Government provide the money needed to send patients to Australia for treatment, saying it is shocking that patients' health has been compromised.

The Ministry of Health is refusing to give district health boards extra money for Australian treatment, travel and accommodation costs, which can be up to $17,000 a patient.

The chief medical adviser, Dr Colin Feek, said yesterday that the Government was giving boards $33.35 million for radiation therapy this financial year - 4.5 per cent more than last year.

"It's a pretty generous package."

Boards with radiation therapy units "should have the leeway" to send some critical patients to Australia if they did not have enough staff to treat the volume of patients agreed with the ministry.

Only 52 per cent of patients nationally are starting radiation therapy on time, which is within four weeks of the decision to use radiation - a decision which can occur several weeks after any surgery.

With the employment of more therapists and the commissioning of new radiation Machines, the ministry expects a gradual shortening of waiting times.

Waikato Hospital had used its existing budget to send some patients to Australia, but spokeswoman Karen Bennett said this policy had ended on June 30 and the ministry had refused to pay for its resumption.

Dr John Childs, Auckland Hospital's head of radiation oncology, said his unit had considered but rejected the Australian option after the ministry refused to provide the extra cash.

Health Minister Annette King has said the Australian option is drying up because of a worldwide shortage of radiation therapists.