Peters Winston: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Peters Winston: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:619;Page:14606] 
8.  
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) 
 to the  
Minister of Health 
: How many people currently diagnosed with cancer have waited beyond the Ministry of Health’s recommended waiting times for treatment and what is the average waiting time? 
Hon ANNETTE KING (Minister of Health) 
: 
 There are three main types of treatment for cancer: surgery chemotherapy and radiation therapy. People with cancer requiring surgery are classified and receive treatment according to urgency. People whose treatment requires chemotherapy receive treatment with little delay. People requiring radiation therapy are classified under four priority categories based on the recommendations of the New Zealand Cancer Treatment Working Party. The categories are: urgent curative palliative and combined chemotherapy and radiation therapy. It is not possible to provide all the data in an oral question but I will provide the member with the latest information as soon as possible after the end of question time. I can give him an example from the Waikato area an area that covers his own electorate for the two main categories urgent and curative. Category A urgent is seen in an average of 2.5 days and in category B curative 100 percent are seen within 4 weeks. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Given the Minister’s answer is she not concerned that cancer cases which have already caused almost a third of all deaths in New Zealand are forecast to jump up to 50 percent in less than 7 years; why are cancer specialists around this country so angry about the unacceptable delays in getting treatment if her answer is right stating that: “New Zealanders need to get angry about a dismal failure to plan for the rocketing burden of cancer.”? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: Yes I am concerned at the rate of growth of cancer in New Zealand. It is just below 5 percent and is predicted to grow at that rate over the next few years. If one looks at the types of cancer we have in New Zealand one sees that many of them are preventable and I am concerned that we need to get on top of that. I have worked very closely with our cancer specialiststhe Cancer Society and others in New Zealand on the development of a cancer control strategy and an implementation plan and the specialists are pleased that at last a Government has taken it seriously. They were concerned that in 1999 when the previous Government received a report on the need for such a strategy it was buried and never made public but at least they have got action from this Government. 
Dianne Yates 
: How many new linear accelerators have been bought and what staff are needed to operate those accelerators? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: When we became the Government the number of linear accelerators that were required to be replaced was 50 percent. Since then most district health boards have undertaken a purchase plan to replace those linear accelerators. It takes eight medical radiation technologists to operate one linear accelerator. In addition physics and medical staff are needed. 
Dr Paul Hutchison 
: Why after 4 years of knowing about the problem are New Zealanders still sent to Australia at great cost when that could have been prevented if her Government had not turned down opportunities for public-private treatment partnerships in Auckland and elsewhere? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: The reason why we still send people to Australia is because we have a shortage of radiation therapists. That was outlined in the April 1999 report to Wyatt Creech which stated we needed to train more radiation therapists. It stated that we were training 16 a year. We have increased that to 38 a year. We have over 103 radiation therapists in training up from 46 under a National Government. It takes 3 years to train them. At the end of this year we will have the first graduates from the work this Government did. If there is any crying shame in this Parliament it is because National ignored that advice. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: If that is true why did a recent  
Listener 
 article state: “When it comes to surviving cancer you are better off living in Australia or just about any developed country than here” and why did a recent Commonwealth Fund report place New Zealand near the bottom in cancer survival rates; if what the Minister is saying is true why am I reading those statements by people who know what they are talking about? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: Cancer survival rates in New Zealand are lower than Australia and it does mean that we have had to put a commitment into control of cancer from prevention through to treatment through to palliative care and into research. This Government has put together such a strategy in conjunction with those people the member has just mentioned and we are finally to see some results out of it. It has taken commitment and money for that to happen. 
Dr Paul Hutchison 
: Does the Minister agree the absolute unacceptability of the May 2004 radiation waiting-time reports which demonstrate that patients right across New Zealand have waited longer than 12 weeks between receipt of referral and the start of radiation treatment; and when will she correct that failure? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: I will not take responsibility for that failure. I will keep telling New Zealanders that this Government is committed to fixing it and that by the end of this year we will finally have close to the number of radiation therapists we need. We are retaining them because of big increases in their salaries and the fact that we pay for their training but I will not say that it is all right yet. There is further work to be done but at least this Government has given a commitment to the people of New Zealand—something they never got from his Government. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: If what the Minister is doing is effective why after 5 years of her doing it is the problem getting worse by all statistical measurement? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: In terms of the growth of cancer that is a really difficult problem for a Government on its own to be able to contain. Causes of cancer come from things like smoking from the environment from issues that are outside the control of a Government. What we are doing is certainly putting a lot of effort into things like tobacco control into issues of screening and so on. But quite a lot of that in terms of the growth of cancer is also in the hands of New Zealanders and we need to work with them in terms of prevention. We have had problems in terms of provision of services and I have outlined why we have had problems. We cannot materialise radiation therapists because we are short of them all around the world. We have to train our own. They have to be home grown and we have to keep them. That is what we have been doing. Unfortunately it takes 3 years to train them. The combination of those things will bring us results. We have not got the results we want yet but I say to the memberthat we are well on the way to achieving the results we want. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I seek leave to table World Health Organization statistics demonstrating by international comparison that Japan with the highest smoking rate in the world has the lowest incidence of heart disease stroke and cancer. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table those two documents. Is there any objection? There is none. 
Document not tabled. 
Dr Paul Hutchison 
: I seek leave to table a report of oncology radiation waiting-times which demonstrates that a significant number of patients waited for over 12 weeks in May 2004. 
Document by leave laid on the Table of the House.