Delay for women ‘unacceptable’

Press, 27 April 1988, Page 42

Delay for women ‘unacceptable’

PA Wellington Delays of up to six months for some Wellington women to have a colposcopy — the procedure used to diagnose the cause of cervical smear abnormalities — and up to a year for treatment were totally unacceptable, the Cancer Society’s medical director, Mr Alan Gray has said. Dr Gray was responding to a report recently that a big increase in demand for colposcopy services, combined with a shortage of qualified colposcopists. had produced the long waiting list.

He said to wait for so long for almost any medical treatment was intolerable but partiqularly so when there wasja suggestion of cancer. ;

General practitioners taking cervical smears and private cytology laboratories processing them had done their best to cope with increased de-

mand for their services. "It is about time the hospital boards did the -same." he said. Colposcopy services and related treatments should i be given higher priority. I There had been three reports in the last fewyears outlining guidelines for hospital boards on cancer services, he said. "If hospital boards or area health boards have not taken that message on board, what the hell is going on?" ; Dr Gray said he believed lack of finance, rather than bad planning, was the reason why col r poscopy services could not cope with demand and it was not solely a Wellington problem. But it was “totally unacceptable" to expect women to put up with such delays. "The stress to the patient must be enormous because the public generally perceive cancer as a

fatal disease whereas in fact over half of all women treated for any form of cancer are alive and well five years later." Medically, if women with mild abnormalities wraited six months before having it diagnosed and longer for treatment, it was unlikely they would come to any harm. “But if you take the more severe forms there is always the risk that there is an underlying cancer that has already developed." Dr Gray said. The society often received calls from women who were distressed about the delays. Hospital boards needed to reassess their priorities but at present they simply did not want to hear of new or extended services because they were having so much difficulty funding existing sendees. Dr Gray said.