THE state government has announced plans to overhaul Western Australia’s cancer support network, after a leaked report labelled the current system “dysfunctional” and full of “significant and unsafe” delays to treatment and care throughout the state.
In June, the WA Cancer Taskforce released a report into cancer treatment at Perth’s two main hospitals – Royal Perth and Fiona Stanley – as well as outer metropolitan and regional health services.
But of the 14 recommendations in the report, five of which were identified as urgent, only some were fully or partially adopted.
The government has refused to remove the cap on the number of staff available in WA oncology and cancer support services.
The report found that a number of issues were affecting the quality and timeliness of care for cancer patients, including long waiting lists for treatment, lack of quality focused palliative care and discrepancies between different suppliers of treatment and services.
In some cases, clinicians reported patients waiting up to six months to undergo diagnostic surgery for “intermediate lesions” found in BreastScreen assessment clinics; the standard waiting time is six weeks.
Bowel cancer patients are currently forced to wait more than four months for colonoscopies, while those with suspected lung cancer are waiting four to six weeks for bronchoscopies, according to the report.
Waits for prostate cancer checks had jumped from three weeks six months ago to three months, with 10,000 people on waiting lists.
A spokeswoman for Peel Health Campus said the hospital had no “significant” waiting list for patients to undergo screening for prostate or colon cancer.
“PHC now has a specialist breast surgery service, and appropriate women from this catchment can be operated on locally without delay,” she said.
“PHC operates a ‘hub and spoke’ chemotherapy service, where patients from this area who have been diagnosed in a tertiary centre can have ongoing chemotherapy at Peel.
“There are no delays in commencing chemotherapy treatment at Peel Health Campus.”
Health Minister Kim Hames acknowledged the findings of the report last week, saying it was an important step in understanding the delivery of cancer treatment and support services in WA.
Mr Hames said he had advised the Department of Health to implement the recommendations of the report “in a timely and co-ordinated approach”.
“The Department of Health has established an expert advisory group to oversee the implementation of priority actions as soon as possible,” he said.
“The Department of Health intends to implement the endorsed action points within its current resources and budget."
Shadow Minister for Health Roger Cook criticised Mr Hames’ response, calling it “weak” and saying it will provide little comfort to the thousands of WA families living with cancer.
“Almost all West Australians have been touched by cancer in some way, and they would expect the best possible services available to assist their loved ones battling the disease,” he said.
“This report points to a crisis in cancer services in WA and should have been a wake-up call to Kim Hames.
“His response will provide little comfort to West Australians battling cancer and their families.
“Throwing a small amount of money at these problems won’t replace the specialist cancer nurses and won’t fix the symptomatic problems across our health system.”
