BCAC this week met with the Minister of Health, Tony Ryall, to discuss improvements needed to the health system to ensure women with breast cancer get optimal treatment.
BCAC chair, Libby Burgess, says Mr Ryall was receptive to the issues raised and appears genuinely committed to improving cancer care as is demonstrated by the ‘faster cancer treatment’ initiatives designed to speed up radiotherapy and chemotherapy waiting times.
BCAC congratulated Mr Ryall for convening an expert group, which included patient representation, to develop National Standards of Service Provision for Breast Cancer.
Libby expects to see further improvements for breast cancer patients once these standards are introduced later in the year because they will provide District Health Boards with a clear benchmark for best practice treatment and care.
Libby is hopeful that the standards will help to address many of the issues BCAC this week flagged with Mr Ryall and the associate Minister of Health, Jo Goodhew, including:
- waiting times for breast cancer patients in rural areas
- access to delayed breast reconstruction
- access to counselling and psychological help
- fertility treatment for young women with cancer
- lymphoedema treatment and care.
Libby says BCAC urged Mr Ryall to put in place adequate measures to monitor District Health Boards to ensure they abide by the new standards and deliver top quality treatment for women with breast cancer no matter where they live.
“These new standards will make a real difference to the care and treatment of women with breast cancer because DHBs will know exactly what they are expected to deliver, but DHBs need to know that they will be held to account if they provide services that are below par and do not meet the standards,” Libby says.
She says the introduction of Cancer Nurse Co-ordinators to guide patients through treatment and follow up care has also been an extremely beneficial initiative helping to ease the stress of negotiating the health system for cancer patients.
The team from BCAC also asked the Minister of Health to look into the following matters:
- making changes to the Health and Disability Ethics Committees so that they can properly assess the safety and ethical status of clinical trials
- expanding the upper age limit for BreastScreen Aotearoa’s free screening programme from 69 to 74
- ensuring elderly patients with cancer are given top quality treatment and care that will deliver the best quality of life and survival
- establishing greater patient/consumer representation on public bodies in the cancer sector
- reforming PHARMAC’s policies and procedures to make them more transparent, timely and open to review as well as allowing greater input from expert doctors and patient groups.
Libby says BCAC recently asked the Health and Disability Ethics Committees (HDECs) to review ethical approval granted to the SOLD clinical trial in New Zealand due to concern for the health and safety of the women involved.
She says HDECs’ inability to adequately monitor the safety and ethical status of clinical trials raises serious concerns.
“Changes are needed to ensure that there is a body which can properly assess the safety and ethical status of clinical trials in New Zealand, otherwise those who are involved in these trials are potentially at risk,” Libby says.
She says she’s hopeful the Minister of Health will address the issues raised by BCAC and BCAC will follow up on these throughout the year.
Read BCAC's submission to the Minister of Health here.
