Concerns arise over B.C. plan to send some cancer patients to U.S. for treatment

There's mixed response to the province's announcement that some cancer patients will travel to the United States for radiation treatment, beginning in just two weeks.

It's welcome news for thousands of people who've been waiting to begin treatment for months.

For others, though, the thought of travelling to another country is adding strain to an already stressful situation.

On Monday, B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix announced that some patients who are waiting for breast and prostate cancer treatments would be eligible to travel to two health centres in Bellingham, Wash., to receive treatment.

Dix said the move would help reduce wait times for an overwhelmed system, and that the province will pay for travel costs – including ferries and flights for patients and a support person – as well as expenses, such as accommodations and meals.

'BAND-AID SOLUTION'

However, a Victoria doctor says the cross-border trips are not without problems.

"It means there's going to have to be a commute," said Dr. Jennifer Lush. "Fatigue is a very common side effect of radiation therapy, so now there's going to be added fatigue."

"There's trouble with ferries not being able to dock and not being able to sail, so perhaps people will have their treatments delayed," she added.

Lush says that sending cancer patients to the U.S. is a significant expense, and that treatment closer to home would cost the health-care system less.

"I worry that this is another Band-Aid solution, an effort to put out a fire, rather than looking at what system-wide healthcare reform would have stopped this crisis in the first place."

B.C.'s health minister says up to 2,400 cancer patients will be able to get radiation treatment in Bellingham, helping reduce the wait times for treatments in the province.

Data shows that in 2020, 90 per cent of patients got treated within 28 days, the longest recommended wait. That number fell to 85 per cent last year, and now the minister says even more people are waiting past four weeks.

"I don’t consider long wait times to be acceptable," he said. "So that's why we're taking this action, and yes, it's unusual, and yes there will be criticism," he said.

TREATMENT IN B.C.?

A Saanich woman, who wished to only be identified by her first name, Laura, knows firsthand the problems with the system.

She underwent radiation treatment the first time she had breast cancer. This second time, she's been receiving hormone therapy in the form of pills, but has waited a long time for it.

"Eight months after I was diagnosed with breast cancer a second time, I finally started the inhibiter," she said.

Laura still doesn't have an oncologist, or even a family doctor. She worries that with a lock of oncologists in B.C., the plan to send patients south of the border hasn't been thought out long term.

"Who's going to look after them when they come back to B.C.?" she said. "You're getting them off the list, but an oncologist still has to see you."

The province previously announced that a cancer centre will be built in Nanaimo.

It would be a vital resource that would help shoulder the load with Victoria, and reduce the need for patients to travel. However, there's no definitive timeline for when the centre will open.

"It's still in the active planning stages," said Dix, though he promised "people in Nanaimo will hear about that very soon."

For now, thousands of patients who need immediate help will have to travel south, often by ferry and plane, for life-saving treatment.