❓ Mr. Cook questions the Minister for Health regarding long wait times for cancer diagnostic services and the impact of decisions made at Fiona Stanley Hospital. The Minister acknowledges the issues, attributing them to the transition to Fiona Stanley and increased screening, while highlighting improvements and ongoing efforts to address the problems.
AnsweredQoN 666Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
WA ADULT CANCER CARE TASKFORCE REPORT
666. Mr R.H. COOK to the
Minister for Health:
I refer to the 2015 Adult Cancer Care Taskforce report
commissioned by the director general of Health in April this year, and to the
findings of that report that say, in part, that patients are waiting up to six
months for diagnostic surgery when the accepted standard is six weeks; there
are unacceptably long colonoscopy wait times, with 10 000 people on waitlists,
including patients waiting over four months who have already received a positive
national bowel cancer screening test result; wait times for the one-stop
prostate clinic have blown out from three weeks just six months ago to now
waiting over three months; and there is a four to six-week waiting time for
Fiona Stanley Hospital patients with suspected lung cancer to be seen in the
fast-track cancer clinic.
(1) Does the minister acknowledge
that these performance failures are unacceptable?
(2) If so, why
did he make decisions to close medical oncology services at Fiona Stanley
Hospital, and why did he cut specialist cancer nurses in the move to Fiona
Stanley Hospital that this task force says is at the centre of the problems?
666. Mr R.H. COOK to the
Minister for Health:
I refer to the 2015 Adult Cancer Care Taskforce report
commissioned by the director general of Health in April this year, and to the
findings of that report that say, in part, that patients are waiting up to six
months for diagnostic surgery when the accepted standard is six weeks; there
are unacceptably long colonoscopy wait times, with 10 000 people on waitlists,
including patients waiting over four months who have already received a positive
national bowel cancer screening test result; wait times for the one-stop
prostate clinic have blown out from three weeks just six months ago to now
waiting over three months; and there is a four to six-week waiting time for
Fiona Stanley Hospital patients with suspected lung cancer to be seen in the
fast-track cancer clinic.
(1) Does the minister acknowledge
that these performance failures are unacceptable?
(2) If so, why
did he make decisions to close medical oncology services at Fiona Stanley
Hospital, and why did he cut specialist cancer nurses in the move to Fiona
Stanley Hospital that this task force says is at the centre of the problems?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(2) This
government significantly increased staffing in cancer services, particularly at
Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, but across the system cancer services have been
enormously increased under this government. I have discussed already the
reasons for moving services out of Royal Perth, so I do not need to go through
that again. This was a decision made by clinicians that I, as minister,
questioned because I am concerned about the outcome.
In terms of waitlist times, as we
have said frequently, downsizing Royal Perth and Fremantle Hospital and moving
all those patients across to start the new clinics at Fiona Stanley was always
going to cause deterioration in waiting lists across the board. That has been
seen to be the case. Total numbers of people on the waitlists have gone up;
waiting lists have deteriorated. We have gone from being equal first in wait
times for surgery to now being middle of the pack with the situation in all the
other states. We prided ourselves on being equal first, and it is disappointing
that we are now down to being in the middle of the pack—nowhere near
the worst—when compared to other states, but we will get back to where
we were and our position at the top. Since the opening of Fiona Stanley and the
improvement of the waitlist surgery we are doing, those numbers already are
starting to come down. Already the total number of people on waitlists has come
down; already the number of people waiting and the waiting times are reducing.
It is unacceptable that cancer
patients in particular are waiting for these services. A little of that has
been caused by the national screening program identifying very large numbers of
people who have a problem with their bowels and need to have colonoscopies.
That has created huge numbers at a time of change. That has been difficult to
cope with, as has the increase in the incidence of people doing p rostate-specific antigen tests and finding abnormal PSAs. The good thing is that treatment methods are
improving and outcomes are improving. The quality of cancer care in this state
is second to none. It is still of the highest order. We are proud of that. The
reason we did this review, and asked for the review, was to make sure that we
get all of the things done that are appropriate, and in the months to come, we
will address those issues raised as a result of my request of the head of
cancer services.
government significantly increased staffing in cancer services, particularly at
Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, but across the system cancer services have been
enormously increased under this government. I have discussed already the
reasons for moving services out of Royal Perth, so I do not need to go through
that again. This was a decision made by clinicians that I, as minister,
questioned because I am concerned about the outcome.
In terms of waitlist times, as we
have said frequently, downsizing Royal Perth and Fremantle Hospital and moving
all those patients across to start the new clinics at Fiona Stanley was always
going to cause deterioration in waiting lists across the board. That has been
seen to be the case. Total numbers of people on the waitlists have gone up;
waiting lists have deteriorated. We have gone from being equal first in wait
times for surgery to now being middle of the pack with the situation in all the
other states. We prided ourselves on being equal first, and it is disappointing
that we are now down to being in the middle of the pack—nowhere near
the worst—when compared to other states, but we will get back to where
we were and our position at the top. Since the opening of Fiona Stanley and the
improvement of the waitlist surgery we are doing, those numbers already are
starting to come down. Already the total number of people on waitlists has come
down; already the number of people waiting and the waiting times are reducing.
It is unacceptable that cancer
patients in particular are waiting for these services. A little of that has
been caused by the national screening program identifying very large numbers of
people who have a problem with their bowels and need to have colonoscopies.
That has created huge numbers at a time of change. That has been difficult to
cope with, as has the increase in the incidence of people doing p rostate-specific antigen tests and finding abnormal PSAs. The good thing is that treatment methods are
improving and outcomes are improving. The quality of cancer care in this state
is second to none. It is still of the highest order. We are proud of that. The
reason we did this review, and asked for the review, was to make sure that we
get all of the things done that are appropriate, and in the months to come, we
will address those issues raised as a result of my request of the head of
cancer services.
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