Many Canadian women waiting too long for breast cancer treatment: report
Reported June 05, 2008
WINNIPEG – Many Canadian women are waiting too long for breast cancer diagnoses and treatment, and wait times vary wildly between provinces, according to a new report card from The Canadian Breast Cancer Network.
The median wait time between an abnormal screening result and a diagnosis is 2.9 weeks in British Columbia and 6.86 weeks in Manitoba, says the report, to be released Thursday at the 5th World Conference on Breast cancer in Winnipeg.
After a diagnosis is made, women can face another waiting period lasting weeks or months for surgery, radiation therapy or chemotherapy – time during which the cancer can grow.
“It is accepted wisdom in cancer care that the earlier a cancer is detected and treated, the better the chance that the cancer can be eradicated and not recur,” the report says.
“Survival data bear this out.”
The network, a non-profit advocacy group led by cancer survivors, compiled information provided by provincial governments for the report. One of the group’s biggest concerns is that while the median wait time can appear short, by definition, half the women are waiting longer than that.
The median wait time for radiation therapy in Calgary is seven weeks, the report says – far higher than the benchmark set by the provinces and Ottawa in 2005 to have radiation therapy available within four weeks.
Ontario, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick and Saskatchewan also did not meet the benchmark.
The network says another major problem is that each province has its own way of measuring wait times, and some don’t appear
to keep track of wait times for certain procedures.
Alberta, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador had no information on how long women wait between an abnormal screen and a diagnosis.
The report calls on the federal and provincial governments to set national benchmarks for all treatments for breast cancer, including surgery and chemotherapy.
Despite many concerns, the report also points to several success stories. It praises British Columbia’s Fast Track screening and diagnosis program, which sends abnormal screening results directly to a diagnostic facility, which then calls the woman directly for an appointment.
By bypassing the family doctor, wait times have been cut by more than half.
B.C. is also praised for having the shortest wait times – a few days – for chemotherapy.
“British Columbia is the place to be if you have cancer,” said Carol Rinella, the network’s Manitoba director.
Alberta is recognized in the report as having very short waiting times for urgent breast cancer surgeries – usually one or two working days.
