Former nurse shares devastating experience of attempts to get urgent cancer surgery

ABC NEWS (Australia)

When someone receives the diagnosis of cancer, surgery is often a necessary form of treatment. But delays are being experienced in public hospitals across the nation due to what's being described as a system in 'logjam'.

Transcript

00:00For three months, Corrine Mosley faced an agonising wait to receive treatment for aggressive uterine cancer.

00:12The delay has resulted in a devastating prognosis.

00:17I'm going to die. Probably within 12 months.

00:22The 70-year-old former nurse was diagnosed in March and was booked in to have surgery in April.

00:29It was cancelled so doctors could do a further examination.

00:33By the time the operation was rescheduled in June, the tumour had doubled in size.

00:40I was extremely angry at them for leaving it for so long because initially it was operable.

00:47They said it was operable. They'd let it grow.

00:52Corrine was placed on several Category 1 waiting lists.

00:56This means she was given the highest clinical urgency and should have had her surgery within 30 days,

01:02but she still hadn't received it more than three months later.

01:06She was then offered chemotherapy.

01:09And basically the chemo people said it's less than one in three chance of the chemo working.

01:15They don't know if it would work enough to operate.

01:18And it just went on like that and I decided I'd rather have quality of life than quantity of life,

01:24so I refused the chemo.

01:26As Corrine Mosley navigated Queensland's public hospital system, Tom van der Zee faced challenges in Victoria.

01:33Since 2013, he has been treated for cancer in his kidney, spine and shoulder.

01:39In December last year, after doing a full PET scan, they found the thyroid cancer.

01:45He was referred for Category 2 surgery, which is supposed to be done within 90 days.

01:52Moments before the operation in May this year, hospital staff told him it couldn't proceed.

01:58What? I'm going in now. It's 10 o'clock. I'm due for surgery.

02:05Anyway, an administrative person came in saying that because of the lack of beds,

02:10it's been decided that all Category 2s will be cancelled.

02:14In a statement, Austin Health said the decision to cancel surgery on the day of admission

02:18is only taken in exceptional circumstances.

02:21A spokesperson for Metro North Health extended their sincere sympathy and support to Mrs Moseley

02:27during this difficult time.

02:29They said every effort is made to ensure care is delivered in a way that balances clinical safety

02:34with patient preferences.

02:37These are not isolated cases.

02:39The Australian Medical Association says delays are occurring in every state and territory.

02:45The logjam in our public hospital system is not a new problem.

02:48The AMA says while the number of hospital beds has been rising,

02:52it's being offset by an ageing population needing longer care.

02:56This has meant the proportion of patients getting timely treatment, like cancer surgeries,

03:01has fallen by 15 per cent to just over 70 per cent in the past decade.

03:07Our main call is for the Commonwealth to be investing their fair share in the public hospital system

03:13and we do think that there should be an even split between the Commonwealth

03:16and the states and territories in terms of overall funding.

03:19A federal government spokesperson says the Commonwealth is committed to making a fair contribution

03:25and has increased its offer by $2 billion to almost $20 billion.

03:32Jane Mosley hopes it will ensure others don't suffer the same way.

03:36The comfort varies from day to day.

03:38It's a lot worse than what it was back in February, obviously.

03:41I can feel that the cancer's growing.

03:44As for dying, well, you know, you could die some time, but I would have preferred a bit longer time.

03:51I could see a lot of times a lot of times a little bit more times a little bit longer than others .

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