7. Dr JACKIE BLUE (National) Link to this
to the Minister of Health
What progress has been made regarding the 4-year, $24 million bowel cancer screening pilot announced in this year’s budget?
Hon TONY RYALL (Minister of Health) Link to this
After years of no progress, yesterday this Government announced that the Waitematā District Health Board has been selected to run the 4-year bowel cancer screening pilot. It is international best practice to foolproof new screening programmes with a pilot. The Waitematā board was chosen because of its strong focus on screening and its commitment to working closely with its neighbouring district health boards, primary care, and the Northern Cancer Network to ensure that as many people as possible participate in the pilot. Up to 130,000 people aged 50 to 74 who live in the Waitematā District Health Board area will be invited to participate.
What is being done to support the health sector to deliver the services that support detection and treatment of bowel cancer?
The member is quite right to identify the need to support the services that underpin a screening programme. That is why I can advise the House that in the last year nearly 38,000 New Zealanders had colonoscopies to investigate for bowel cancer and other serious bowel issues. This was an increase of almost 2,500 colonoscopies over the previous year. These record numbers build on earlier increases and show that the sector is growing capacity for this important cancer test. The Government is fixing public health services with a concerted effort to make colonoscopies more freely and fairly available to New Zealanders who need them.