Page 2767 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 13 August 2019
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MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I have some numbers in front of me that relate to more current figures. I will have to take on notice the figures in relation to 2018-19. However, I would note that I did raise this question with the CEO of Canberra Health Services in relation to daily dashboard information that I received the other day. It was specifically in relation to category 1 patients, and I was assured that all category 1 patients are seen on time, in accordance with their triage category.
Hospitals—radiation therapy waiting times
MR HANSON: My question is to the Minister for Health. Minister. Recent data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare shows that ACT cancer patients face the longest wait for radiation therapy in the nation. Minister, why do ACT cancer patients face the longest wait for radiation therapy in the nation?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: We have obviously addressed this issue in relation to media queries. I thank Mr Hanson for bringing the question again to the Assembly. I want to assure the Assembly and the Canberra public that 100 per cent of patients requiring emergency radiation therapy receive their treatment within one day. This is, in fact, the best performance, or the equal best performance, across the country.
One hundred patients a day receive treatment at Canberra Hospital. This is being achieved on three machines, as opposed to the same number being treated on four machines during the same period last year. 1,450 patients received radiation treatment in 2018-19 compared with 1,377 in 2017-18, so the number of treatments is increasing. Canberra Health Services is currently spending $5.3 million replacing two linear accelerators and the treatment planning system and updating the physical space to ensure that the latest technology and most efficient services are provided.
Part of the reason that those percentage numbers have fallen is as a result of replacing these accelerators. There has been a smaller number available but, as I noted, more patients are still being treated. These patients are triaged to ensure that those who will benefit most from early treatment are treated first. When all four machines are operational by mid-2020, wait times will return to within the national benchmarks.
MR HANSON: Minister, why have waiting times for radiation therapy declined so badly over recent years?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: Without accepting the premise of that question at all, the performance in radiotherapy wait times has been impacted by an increase in the number of referrals, increasingly complex treatment techniques, treatment delivery time and some workforce shortages. So improvements in treatment capacity have been achieved by extending treatment times to 7 pm, recalling clinicians from indirect roles to providing treatments where appropriate, improving patient scheduling, improving the planning processes, and ensuring limits on maintenance downtime in relation to those machines.
One of the issues around workforce is that radiation therapists are not trained in the ACT, so recruiting staff means having to attract staff from other states. This often
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