New chemotherapy unit at Whanganui Hospital will ease ‘significant burden’ on cancer patients

The new chemotherapy unit opening at Whanganui Hospital will ensure most patients do not have to travel to Palmerston North for treatment. Photo / Bevan Conley

Whanganui Hospital’s new chemotherapy unit is expected to open this year, more than three years after its funding was announced.

An interim facility is scheduled to open at the end of the year with a three-year plan in place to transform this into a permanent facility.

Te Whatu Ora regional director Russell Simpson said minimising travel costs and the time cancer patients spent away from home would make a “significant difference” in their lives.

“Care closer to home is better for patients.”

Cancer Society central region chief executive Debra Elgar said she was “delighted” to see work being done on the chemotherapy suite in Whanganui.

“It will make treatment for clients much closer to home, and it will reduce the distance people have to travel and allow them to access services from their local hospital.”

$800,000 of government funding was first secured for the unit in February 2020.

In April last year, the Chronicle reported that “little progress” made on developing the chemotherapy unit during that time.

Simpson said getting the unit across the line had required “extensive planning” to secure specialist nurses and oncology staff.

“The training of these staff locally takes time and finding suitable facilities to accommodate a chemotherapy and infusion unit takes considerable planning.”

He said the project had also suffered due to the impact of Covid disrupting the health sector.

Simpson said Whanganui would still need to rely on staffing support from Palmerston North to deliver services.

“Those staff will effectively be working across the districts.”

Te Whatu Ora Whanganui chief operating officer Katherine Fraser-Chapple said she had been working with the regional cancer treatment service on how staffing would work across both sites.

“It involves understanding the number of staff that we need, but also making sure that they have the right skill set and are trained in chemotherapy.”

Fraser-Chapple said the new unit would have the capacity to treat six patients at any one time, with recliner chairs that could be converted into beds for infusions.

“There are still a lot of unknowns around building and construction, but the planning and consent documents have been handed in to the council.”

She said not every chemotherapy patient would be eligible for treatment at the new facility.

“Some patients’ treatment regimes will still need to happen in Palmerston North because of their cancer or tumour stream, or the regime of their medical oncology and systemic treatment they need.

“Travel for chemotherapy patients is a significant burden when you’re very unwell.”

Simpson said the “degree of complexity” of some patient’s treatment would mean they weren’t eligible for appointments at the Whanganui unit.

Fraser-Chapple said the chemotherapy unit would also be able to provide infusion therapy for reasons other than cancer, and this could bring patients out of the operating space at Whanganui Hospital.