Approval sought for cancer pilot

Health Minister Tony Ryall's approval will be sought for a year-long pilot scheme which would offer some Otago and Southland public hospital cancer patients the option of paying for unfunded chemotherapy drugs.

This follows the Southland District Health Board's decision this week to follow Otago in supporting the controversial proposal.

Southland members' vote for the pilot, like Otago's last week, was unanimous. Members Tahu Potiki and Karen Goffe were absent from this week's meeting.

It is not known how long it might take before Mr Ryall makes a decision on the matter.

His office said yesterday he would be waiting to see the formal request and the information involved to see if he needed extra advice on the issue and if there were particular legal implications.

At yesterday's meeting board chairman Paul Menzies said he had thought long and hard about the ethical issues involved and it was his view that these would need to be thoroughly analysed in the evaluation of the pilot.

Chief executive Brian Rousseau said the pilot was based on a set of principles and would show how workable those principles were.

Deputy chairwoman Susie Johnstone said the proposal was fraught with difficulty and the pilot, with a " really solid evaluation process" was a great way to see how it would work.

There could not be subsidisation either way, she said.

Member Sajan Bhatia suggested it was an area which could be dealt with nationally.

Mr Rousseau said generally innovation did not start at the global level, but the local level, and the proposal could lead to policy development nationally.

Member Fiona McArthur said the pilot would provide the chance for the "little things to get ironed out".

"We're starting to get into a little grey area and it is important that we get it right."

She acknowledged staff for coming up with an innovative idea, saying that those who had been travelling to Auckland for such treatments while in a fragile condition would be delighted to receive treatments much closer to home.

- elspeth.mclean@odt.co.nz