Introducing bowel cancer screening in the South in 2018 was absolutely the right thing to do, the chairman of the Southern District Health Board’s endoscopy oversight group says.
The board’s colonoscopy service has been under intense scrutiny for several years, after a range of issues led to patients suffering harm, something the board has apologised for.
Several measures were introduced including the creation of the oversight group.
However, several clinicians have called for a public inquiry into previous issues with the service, and an article in the New Zealand Medical Journal questioned whether the board had adequate provisions in place to join the national bowel screening programme when it did.
"I do not believe that screening has materially denied other patients access ... if there were spare slots without screening and the patient did not meet that criteria, they would not have got that scope.
"Therefore I believe that screening has materially improved access, not only for those with cancer but the 60-odd percent with polyps."
The board had one of, if not the most, successful screening programmes in New Zealand, and it was the most successful in seeing indigenous patients in the world, Dr Connolly said.
"That is quite extraordinary."
The service was now showing excellent results for timeliness in seeing most patients, Dr Connolly — who prior to becoming group chairman had written an independent report critical of the service — said.
"Surveillance remains behind on target times, but the improvements are significant, and it is expected the service will be meeting or exceeding timeframes by September-October 2021.
"We are doing well, but it takes a hell of a lot of oversight," Dr Connolly said.
The service in Southland still relied on doctors coming south from Dunedin to assist, and an extra 0.5 FTE in Invercargill would make an enormous difference, Dr Connolly said.
