Te Whatu Ora Southern is apologising to patients who have faced long waits for cancer care in the region.
A report by the Health and Disability Commissioner has found there have been significant delays over six years for cancer patients needing to see specialists.
In one case, a bowel cancer patient was given six to eight weeks to live, but was told there could be a 12-week wait to see an oncologist.
In a statement, Te Whatu Ora Southern said it had taken immediate steps to address the problems and would make better support for patients on waiting lists a high priority.
Te Whatu Ora Te Waipounamu hospital and specialist services director Dan Pallister-Coward said the agency accepted the commission's findings.
"We apologise unreservedly to patients and their whānau who have experienced distress and delays in their treatment and care," he said.
"We are fully committed to implementing the commissioner's recommendations and have taken immediate steps to address the highlighted concerns.
"We also understand our inadequate processes for patient support during periods of increased waiting times and will address this as a matter of high priority."
The agency had hired 24 new Southern Blood and Cancer Services staff but recruiting essential specialist medical officers in the radiation and medical oncology services and haematology remained a "significant challenge", Pallister-Coward said.
The region currently has four radiation oncologists, eight medical oncologists and eight haematology oncologists.
Pallister-Coward said a national radiation oncology forum had been established to address problems in the region and an existing working group was meeting weekly to provide wait list monitoring.
Some first specialist appointments were being outsourced so patients could speak to radiation oncologists via telehealth, along with outsourcing to private providers, he said.
Pallister-Coward said Te Whatu Ora Southern had continued to accept malignant stereotactic referrals, while pausing accepting new referrals for benign conditions while cancer treatments were prioritised.
"We would like to reassure patients, their families, and our community that these actions will reduce the likelihood of any future system or process failures," he said.
'A horrendous read'
Cancer Society Otago and Southland chief executive Rachael Hart told Midday Report the Health and Disability Commissioner's report was a "horrendous read".
"We've known about the psychological effect of the delays for ages, we're regularly contacted by people who are in a great deal of distress."
What they didn't know, but suspected, was the cancer outcomes were being affected, she said.
"The delays were impacting the cancer patients' quality of life and in some cases the length of life."
In 2016, the year Hart started in her role, she wrote her first letter to the DHB citing concerns about the emotional distress.
"It's absolutely a workforce issue, we see patient waitlists rise and then a bandaid solution getting a locum in to bring down the waitlists but as soon as the doctor wants to go on holiday or something... the waitlists rise again."
RNZ
