Sixteen months ago the then Southern District Health Board’s radiation oncology waiting list reached a record 157 people, a peak which promoted the Cancer Control Agency to step in and work alongside the board to try to improve matters.
The agency’s intervention and staff efforts succeeded in bringing the waiting list down below 100, and it has stayed below that level for the past year.
However, the impacts of winter ailments and pandemic-related staff shortages and difficulties filling clinical vacancies meant the radiation oncology waiting list had climbed back up to 132 people as of the end of June.
"The cancer treatment wait list and the wait list for treatment is within acceptable standards," Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand Southern interim district director Hamish Brown said.
"The main limitation in Southern is not treatment capacity, rather that of recruiting radiation oncologists to match the growing demand for first specialist appointments."
Mr Brown said the waiting time to be seen by a radiation oncologist for an urgent referrals was between one and three weeks, when the recommended time was one week.
For a less urgent appointment, which has a recommended wait of four weeks, patients were waiting six to 10 weeks to be seen.
Cancer Society Otago and Southland chief executive Rachael Hart said it was extremely disappointing to see waiting times rise above best practice standards again.
"Patients often tell us that the time waiting to start treatment is the most terrifying time of a cancer journey," Ms Hart said.
"We know that the health system is under stress with Covid-19 and winter illnesses, but this is another reminder of the importance of resourcing cancer care appropriately for people in the South."
While finding appropriate staff to handle its machines was a challenge, the commissioning of new MRI and CT scanners by the former SDHB in its last months had eased waiting times for tests and treatment.
At the end of August there were 625 patients waiting for an MRI at Dunedin Hospital, Mr Brown said.
"That was an improvement from April 2022 where there were 1000."
CT scan figures had similarly improved.
