An arrangement allowing for some patients requiring radiation treatment for cancer to be transferred between Christchurch and Dunedin services is expected to be formalised by the Southern District Health Board today.
The board is being asked to approve the signing of a memorandum of understanding for the sharing of public radiation oncology capacity between the centres which are the two main providers of such services in the South Island.
All South Island boards will be asked to sign the document.
Board service manager for oncology and specialist medicine, Gary Reed, said for some time a small number of patients had been transferred between the services for radiation therapy.
Most of the traffic had been from Canterbury to Dunedin and had traditionally been in bursts rather than a steady stream.
A few patients went to Christchurch from the South for sub-specialist treatment.
In recent months, Southern Blood and Cancer had been treating about 12 South Canterbury patients on behalf of the Canterbury board.
This was expected to continue until next month when the Canterbury board's new linear accelerator would be installed and extra capacity would also be available at the private St George's Hospital in Christchurch.
The extra patients' treatments were timed so they did not affect the ability to treat southern patients in a timely manner, he said.
Under the memorandum of understanding, patients can choose to remain on their local waiting list rather than travel out of their region for earlier treatment.
Patients outside the region can be taken only if the centre to carry out the work has the capacity to ensure service to its own population and if the extra work can be managed within the national radiation treatment waiting times target.
Under the Ministry of Health target, cancer patients must not wait longer than six weeks for radiation treatment.
From December, the time will be reduced to four weeks.
