Deadly cancer delays: New Qld Health crisis

Queenslanders with suspected cancers are waiting months to receive the results of their biopsies, scans and MRIs as concerned hospital workers say patients’ lives are at risk.

• Houghton: Politics is the problem

Queenslanders with suspected cancers are waiting months to receive the results of their biopsies, scans and MRIs as concerned hospital workers say patients’ lives are at risk.

Health whistleblowers claim patients are waiting more than four weeks to get results for important biopsies, while at one major South East Queensland hospital the waitlist for women with suspected breast cancers has extended past December.

Pathology Queensland has confirmed it is sending some samples from Metro North Health hospitals to Victoria for testing as it battles staff shortages. As well, GPs say frightened patients are begging them for information on how they can speed up scan results.

A Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital informant said patients were waiting more than four weeks to get results for important biopsies, including pap smears.

“The concern is that we’re delaying treatment plans for the odd one that does come back with cancer. It’s four to six weeks now before they get a result,” said the clinician, speaking out after The Courier-Mail revealed last week that more than 50,000 radiology scans were unreported at Gold Coast University Hospital.

There are results delays being reported at the Royal Brisbane and Womens Hospital. Picture: Adam Smith

“And I’m only talking about my discipline. God knows what it’s like in other departments.”

The clinician said that up until two years ago results were back from biopsies within two weeks. However, that had since blown out to a minimum of four weeks.

About 32 per cent of the biopsies received from Metro North Health, including the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, between July 1-28 are still pending.

One biopsy received from Metro North Health in June still has not been completed.

But the hospital whistleblower questioned that number, saying in their department alone there were two outstanding biopsies.

A Queensland Health spokes­man said Pathology Queensland had been hit hard by a shortage of key medical specialists and had started sending 50 samples a week from Metro North Health to Victoria for analysis to help ease the workload.

“The limited number of anatomical pathologists in regional Queensland has increased the number of biopsies referred to major public laboratories, impacting turnaround times,” he said. “Queenslanders can be assured the most urgent samples are being prioritised.”

Queensland Health Minister Shannon Fentiman. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

A well-placed source working for Gold Coast Health told The Courier-Mail that the waitlist for women with suspected breast cancers now extended past December.

The medical professional said it was not appropriate that patients were waiting months for results when treatments for cancer were often time-sensitive. The source also said that patients were waiting inordinate amounts of time for MRI scans – including those patients with suspected cancers.

But a Gold Coast Health spokeswoman insisted that emergency and urgent MRIs were performed within clinically appropriate time frames.

“Of the approximate 4150 outpatient MRI scans across Gold Coast Health hospitals yet to be scheduled an appointment, around 1300 of these are follow-up referrals for 2024 and beyond,” she said.

“About 540 routine MRIs are past their ‘image requested by’ date, and these are typically for monitoring of patients who already have a diagnosis.”

She confirmed shortages in its medical imaging workforce.

“Breast imaging is a highly specialised field, and breast radiographers and radiologists are in short supply,” she said.

“It is not true that women with suspected cancer routinely wait months for imaging.”

Royal Australian College of General Practitioners Queensland chief Bruce Willett said patients were pleading with their GPs to help fast-track the results of medical tests amid fears cancer was spreading while they waited.

He said GPs were seeing first-hand the stress of people caught up in the shocking shortage of radiologists and other healthcare professionals.

“Patients come to surgeries wanting answers. There is not much we can do to speed up the scan or biopsy process,” Mr Willett said.

“We can only offer to send them to a private provider and most will be prepared to spend the dollars, as they need peace of mind.”