Needing help ... People with bowel cancer are being forced to wait longer than other cancer patients. Source: News Limited BOWEL cancer patients are facing longer waits for life saving surgery than other cancer patients according to a new report.
Surgery for malignant cancer bowel, breast and lung cancer is usually categorised as urgent and needs surgery within 30 days.
However the report has found 15 public hospitals fail to meet that benchmark.
Over 300 cancer patients had to wait over 45 days for life saving surgery in 2012-13, the National Health Performance Authority (NHPA) has revealed.
More than half those whose surgery was delayed over 45 days were bowel cancer patients (216), the report shows.
Long list ... Princess Alexandra Hospital Brisbane has one of the longest wait times for bowel cancer surgery. Picture: Liam Kidston Source: News Limited And Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane and Royal Hobart Hospital in Tasmania were identified as the worst performers with some bowel cancer patients waiting between 76 and 90 days for surgery.
Only 102 breast cancer patients waited longer than 45 days for their surgery and just 28 lung cancer patients had a wait that long.
The longer wait for bowel cancer surgery comes even though it has a five year survival rate of just 66 per cent compared to breast cancer’s survival rate of 89 per cent.
The report shows 88 per cent of bowel cancer patients had surgery within 30 days compared to 96 per cent of breast cancer patients and 90 per cent of lung cancer patients.
About 15,000 Australians are diagnosed with bowel cancer each year and about 4,000 patients will die from the disease.
Why the wait ... Julien Wiggins, chief executive, Bowel Cancer Australia says it is reasonable for the bowel cancer commmunity to ask questions about long surgery wait times. Source: Supplied Bowel Cancer Australia chief Mr Julien Wiggins said with bowel cancer survival rates lagging behind that of other common cancers, it was reasonable for the bowel cancer community to be asking more questions of the health care system.
“We know that timely access to colonoscopies was flagged as a workforce issue in 2005 prior to the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program being introduced. This is a critical piece of the puzzle,” he said.
“We also need to know the facts on patients treated in private hospitals as they represent about 60 per cent of total cancer surgeries,” he said.
The NHPA report identified 15 hospitals that had longer waiting times for cancer surgery.
Calvary Mater in Newcastle had long waits for bowel (46-60 days) and breast cancer (31-45 days) surgery.
The Royal Prince Alfred NSW and Royal Perth hospital had waits of 46-60 days for bowel cancer.
Ryde Hospitals NSW, Peter MacCallum in Melbourne had waits of 61-75 days for bowel cancer.
Campbelltown and Westmead hospitals in Sydney, Nambour and Royal Women’s Hospital in NSW had waits of 31-45 days for breast cancer surgery.
Royal Hobart Hospital ... one of the longest wait times for bowel cancer surgery. Picture: The Mercury Source:Mercury
Jondalup hospital in Western Australia had waits of 45-60 days for breast cancer surgery.
At Liverpool Hospital in NSW some patients had to wait 46-60 days for lung cancer surgery while Blacktown hospital in NSW had the longest wait of over 76 days for lung cancer surgery.
The NHPA said across the three types of cancer surgery, five public hospitals took up to 60 days, two up to 75 days and three up to 90 days before at least 90 per cent of their patients received their surgeries.
National Health Performance Authority CEO Dr Diane Watson said the report provided an opportunity to identify where improvements can be made.
“Hospitals can use this report to help target improvements and learn from others that have shorter cancer surgery waiting times,” Dr Watson said.
HOSPITALS WITH LONGEST WAITS
Bowel cancer
76-90 days
Princess Alexandra Brisbane
Royal Hobart
61-75 days
Ryde Hospitals NSW
Peter MacCallum Melbourne
46-60 days
Royal Prince Alfred NSW
Royal Perth
Breast cancer
45-60 days
Jondalup hospital in Western Australia
31-45 days
Campbelltown NSW
Westmead NSW
Nambour QLD
Royal Women’s Hospital in NSW
Lung cancer
76-90 days
Blacktown hospital NSW
46-60 days
Liverpool hospitals NSW
• Bowel cancer: 564 patients waited longer
than 30 days; 216 of these patients waited
longer than 45 days
• Breast cancer: 357 patients waited longer
than 30 days; 102 of these patients waited
longer than 45 days
• Lung cancer: 107 patients waited longer than
30 days; 28 of these patients waited longer
than 45 days
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