Te Whatu Ora can’t confirm when Whanganui Hospital’s chemotherapy unit will open

Te Whatu Ora says construction of the new chemotherapy unit at Whanganui Hospital “is expected to begin after the middle of October”. Photo / Getty Images

Te Whatu Ora Whanganui cannot give a date for when Whanganui’s chemotherapy unit will open, despite earlier assurances it would be open this year.

Government funding of $800,000 was first secured for a chemotherapy unit at Whanganui Hospital in February 2020.

In June, the Chronicle reported that the unit was expected to open this year, more than three years after its funding was announced.

A Te Whatu Ora spokeswoman said last week it wasn’t possible to give an exact date for when the unit would open.

She said it was expected the new facility would be operational in the new year: “Construction is expected to begin after the middle of October.”

Cancer Society Central Districts chief executive Debra Elgar said the Cancer Society was “disappointed” at the delay.

“It makes a huge difference in people’s lives when they can access cancer treatment closer to home and not have to travel as patients currently do,” Elgar said.

Chemotherapy patients in Whanganui must travel to Palmerston North to receive treatment.

“The burden of travel means petrol and vehicle costs or days away from work and, although the Cancer Society can often assist with transport to and from treatment, not everyone needs or wants that help.”

Te Whatu Ora Whanganui chief operating officer Katherine Fraser-Chapple said the initial timeline was that the unit would be completed by December 31, 2023.

“Our construction, planning and staffing model are on track, I can’t give you a date when the first patient will be in the unit.”

Fraser-Chapple said there would be “a clinical decision” about the patients who would access the unit, which meant it could not be confirmed whether the unit would be seeing patients by December 31.

“I can’t confirm a date for you when we’ve got a lot of variables around construction.”

Elgar said the Cancer Society was aware that recruiting appropriately-qualified staff to support the delivery of cancer treatments was challenging throughout New Zealand.

“We have noted that this is even more difficult in smaller areas outside the main metropolitan centres.”

Fraser-Chapple said Te Whatu Ora was well aware of the burden of travelling for treatment for local patients.

“That burden and the inequity that causes, and the issue that has for patients, is forefront of our minds for building this unit.

“We still expect those patients to be in the unit as soon as possible. They are currently still receiving treatment in the regional cancer treatment service in Palmerston North and we will bring them back [to Whanganui] as soon as the unit is open.”

Whanganui Hospital was creating a fully-operational unit out of an existing space on the campus, she said.

“In order to make sure that we have that facility open as soon as possible, utilising our existing space has made it much faster for the unit to open rather than constructing a standalone building.

“It’s more cost-effective to do that as well.”

At the time the $800,000 for the chemotherapy and transfusion unit was announced, Whanganui patients had about 780 chemotherapy treatments a year undertaken at Palmerston North Hospital. For clinical reasons, not all Whanganui patients would be suitable for treatment at the new unit at Whanganui Hospital.

Eva de Jong is a reporter for the Whanganui Chronicle, covering health stories and general news. She began as a reporter in 2023.