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A woman waiting for radiotherapy is outraged that health chiefs say patients like her will wait 12 weeks for treatment, even though she received a letter indicating 14 to 16 weeks.
Susan - she does not want her full name used - has had breast surgery for a pre-cancerous condition and was referred by her cancer specialist to the Auckland District Health Board for radiation therapy.
Priority C patients like her should wait no longer than four weeks after the decision is made to use radiation, Health Ministry guidelines state.
The letter Susan received this week says: "At the moment the average waiting time is approximately 14-16 weeks. Your actual wait may differ from our estimates by a few weeks but we are monitoring this closely and will start your treatment as soon as we are able."
Board management said the waiting period stated in the letter was incorrect and Susan would probably wait for 12 weeks.
On Wednesday, board chairman Wayne Brown told Parliament's health committee that waiting times for priority C patients were around 12 weeks.
On Tuesday, the board's oncology manager, Joanna Easingwood, told the Herald the current wait was eight to 12 weeks, with an average of just under 10. When asked about the National Party's assertion the wait was currently 14-16 weeks, based on an undated letter it had obtained, she said that was the delay in December or early-January, when the service was affected by industrial action.
Susan said she was outraged that National MP Jackie Blue, who is campaigning against the Government over the therapy delays, was given figures by the health board that contradicted its letter.
"I think they are putting a spin on it that isn't based on any form of reality."
But Joanna Easingwood yesterday reiterated the figures she gave on Tuesday. She said the letter sent to Susan was a mistake, but she did not know whether any other patients had been sent the wrong information.
She said the delays were not caused by staff shortages, but by equipment problems.
Radiation therapy is delivered from a machine called a linear accelerator. Joanna Easingwood said one of the board's six linear accelerators was "limping" and one was an older type that was no longer being used.
Subject to Health Ministry approval, the "limping" one would be replaced, at a cost of about $4 million, around mid-year. A business case was still being developed for the replacement of the older machine.
However, National's associate health spokeswoman Dr Jackie Blue said last night she had been told by an ADHB source that many more women have recently received the same letter.
"The buck needs to stop and ADHB needs to front up, take responsibility and stop ducking for cover," she said.
