8. Dr JACKIE BLUE (National) Link to this
to the Minister of Health
What reports, if any, has he received on the “pressures brought about by industrial action” on cancer treatment?
Hon PETE HODGSON (Minister of Health) Link to this
I have received reports that industrial action by radiation therapists, combined with other pressures, is leading to delays in some cancer treatment centres.
What effect does the Minister think the threats of industrial action, workforce shortages, and women being sent offshore to Australia for radiotherapy will possibly have on mastectomy rates at Auckland District Health Board?
Maryan StreetWhat protections are in place to ensure that patients needing very urgent attention can be cared for, in the event of a strike?
Under reforms introduced by the Labour-led Government, district health boards and unions are required by law to provide life-preserving services in the event of a strike. Life-preserving services agreements have been activated only very rarely during industrial action by radiation therapists.
Is the Minister aware the mastectomy rate at Auckland District Health Board over the last 5 years has grown from 44 percent in 2001 to 59 percent this year, and is this acceptable in view of international evidence that with breast-screening programmes, mastectomy rates should be declining?
Why are women more likely to have mastectomies, and less likely to have breast reconstruction, in public hospitals than in private hospitals, when a survey of eight district health boards over a 2-year period, accounting for almost 2,000 women treated for breast cancer, revealed mastectomy rates of up to 60 percent and breast reconstruction rates of only 19 percent, which is in stark contrast to a survey of 1,500 women over 5 years treated at a private breast clinic in Auckland, which showed a mastectomy rate of only 21 percent and a breast reconstruction rate of 70 percent?
I do not know but I caution the member about drawing conclusions, when populations may be substantially different.
When will the Government realise that, despite its own rhetoric, staff shortages and growing waiting lists are making some women choose to have their breast removed rather than to wait and wait for radiation therapy; and is it not time he recognised the urgency of this crisis for women and their families?
Now we finally get to the point of the question. The member is suggesting that because there is a shortage of radiation therapy, women are proactively changing their choices of the type of treatment they have. I cannot say that that is or is not happening. What I can say is that about 2,000 or 2,500 people in Auckland each year receive radiation therapy, and 30 have been offered radiation therapy in Australia; that is 30 out of 2,000 or 2,500. This leads me to the view that the influence of the offer of trips to Australia is small indeed.