KEY POINTS:
Parents of children with cancer living in Wellington have been dealt a fresh blow with the resignation of the sole remaining child cancer specialist at Wellington Hospital.
Battles to retain health services typically are fought in the regions but this time the service in question is in the nation's capital.
"It's just unbelievable and inconceivable that Wellington, the capital city, could not help treat child cancer patients," Catherine Ternent told The Dominion Post.
Her son Sean, 7, is battling non-Hodgkins lymphoma.
"We've been fighting and fighting and we'll just have to continue fighting," she said.
Since July seven children from Capital and Coast District Health Board's catchment have had to travel to Auckland or Christchurch for tertiary treatment after the number of specialists reduced to one.
The last child cancer specialist, Anne Mitchell, has now quit and will finish at the end of January.
The board regretted the inconvenience and was committed to offering a full paediatric oncology service from Wellington Hospital in the long term, said child health manager, Kaye Hudson.
The Wellington service has 30 children in its care, and averages 11 new cases a year.
Capital and Coast earlier this month gave unanimous backing to the return of full services for child cancer patients at Wellington Hospital, after an independent review of the service.
DHB chairwoman Judith Aitken said then that the decision meant the board would "vigorously recruit for a second fulltime paediatric oncologist to fill the current vacancy, and for other staff to strengthen the Wellington unit".
- NZPA
