Move to standardise wait time data

District health boards and the Health Ministry are to standardise the recording of waiting times for cancer treatment.

Waiting times were previously recorded from the time of a patient's first specialist assessment by an oncologist to the beginning of radiation treatment, ministry spokesman Colin Feek said in a statement yesterday.

"The new wait times measure the interval starting at the patient's referral from a medical practitioner to the oncology department, to the beginning of radiation treatment."

Dr Feek, the Deputy Director-General of Clinical Services, said the change had caused some issues for the six centres doing oncology treatment, mainly because new information being sought was not previously recorded.

The recording system was being changed to create three categories of patients waiting for treatment:

* Referral-to-department to first specialist assessment by a radiation oncologist (category A).

* First specialist assessment by a radiation oncologist to the beginning of radiation treatment (category B).

* Referral-to-department to the beginning of radiation treatment (category C).

Category B was essentially the old wait time, Dr Feek said.

"We are getting there, but in the meantime we have been periodically updating the waiting times website with the information that is available. The latest information was due to go up at Easter, and has now been posted.

"It's important to note that waiting times have not deteriorated significantly since the information was last posted."

District health boards had said waiting times were still being managed appropriately, Dr Feek said.

"The information on wait times is always months behind, as the process takes some time between when the data is collected, collated and presented.

"We have publicly acknowledged, again as recently as last week, that some people are waiting longer than ideal in some centres, caused largely by staff shortages of radiation therapists.

"This is an international problem and unfortunately there are no quick fixes."

- NZPA