Patients face ‘agonising’ nine-month waits for diagnosis

The screening program aims to detect early signs of the bowel cancer and is recommended for Australians aged 45 to 74, who receive a free at-home test every two years.

Last year, the program was expanded to include Australians aged 45 to 49 amid a surge in rates of bowel cancer among younger people.

Dr Joe Garra, a GP who works in Werribee, said he regularly treated patients who had received a positive result but then faced an eight- to nine-month wait for a colonoscopy at a public hospital.

“They are worried and stressed out,” said Garra, who has previously run as an independent candidate in the state election. “There’s no point having a screening test every two years if it takes more than six months to get your results investigated.”

It was fortunate, he said, that none of his patients had been diagnosed with cancer after these delays.

About 4 per cent of people who receive a positive screening test result go on to be diagnosed with bowel cancer.

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Garra called on the state government to transfer public patients to private hospitals when colonoscopies were unable to be performed in a timely manner.

Dr Anita Munoz, chair of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners Victoria, said longer waits could lead to worse outcomes for patients with cancer.

“If you are waiting five to six months to have a polyp removed, there is no harm, but if it represents a cancer that is growing, that is enough time for it to grow out of the wall of the bowel and metastasise,” she said.

“It’s an issue when we invite patients to take part in cancer screening … and we don’t respond appropriately and miss the opportunity to change the outcome.”

Last year, opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier advocated for a 58-year-old Geelong woman who had been waiting more than 140 days for a colonoscopy at Geelong Hospital. She was suffering from severe abdominal pain and bleeding and deemed a category 1 patient.

“A positive test demands urgent follow-up,” Crozier said. “Under the Allan Labor government, wait times for colonoscopies, surgery and ambulances are too long, and it’s putting the lives of Victorians at risk.”

Bowel cancer is Victoria’s second leading cause of cancer-related death among men and the third among women, according to Cancer Council Victoria.

Adjunct Professor Iain Skinner, a colorectal surgeon at Werribee Mercy Hospital, said the hospital was servicing a high-density, growing population, and an increasing number of people were presenting with symptoms.

“We understand this is a challenge faced by many Victorian hospitals,” said Skinner, who is the hospital’s clinical services director in the perioperative division.

“From a clinical perspective, colonoscopy procedures are now more medically sophisticated and complex.”

He said that in the last quarter, Werribee Mercy Hospital had reduced the number of unseen category 1 patients waiting beyond the 30-day benchmark by 34 per cent.

A state government spokeswoman said Victoria had the shortest colonoscopy waiting times in Australia for patients referred from the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program.

But she said there was more work to do. “That’s why we’re working closely with the Commonwealth to improve access to timely colonoscopies and raise awareness about the importance of attending appointments promptly.”

A spokesperson for the federal Department of Health said state and territory governments were responsible for the delivery of diagnostic follow-up services following a positive test.

They said the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program accounted for about 7 to 10 per cent of national demand for colonoscopies.

“To help address access concerns for [the screening program] participants, the Australian government provided $10.2 million over two years … to states and territories to undertake activities to improve access to public colonoscopy.”

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Bowel Cancer Australia chief executive Julien Wiggins said long waiting times could contribute to unnecessary stress and anxiety for people who received a positive test.

“Almost 99 per cent of bowel cancer cases can be successfully treated when detected in the earliest stage,” he said. “Yet the opportunity for early detection can be lost if people do not receive a timely colonoscopy following a positive screening test.”

He said if colonoscopies could not be performed within category 1 time frames, other models should be considered, such as delivering public procedures in private hospitals.