Island Health has almost cleared a backlog of screening colonoscopies for patients in the South Island who are part of B.C.’s colorectal cancer screening program.
It’s an improvement for those living south of the Malahat, but patients in other parts of the Island and around B.C. continue to wait — often beyond the provincial benchmark of eight weeks.
In April 2013, Island Health spearheaded a provincewide colorectal cancer-screening program, offering screening colonoscopies to people who have a positive stool test or have a family history of the disease.
Although one in 14 Canadians will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer in their lifetime, the disease is preventable and curable with early detection through screening.
Island Health was the first region to roll out the provincial program. It offers a free take-home stool test, called a fecal immunochemical test (FIT), every two years to any average-risk person between the ages of 50 and 74. Screening is also available to those with family history of colon cancer.
The program was quickly overwhelmed, and by December 2013 there were 2,700 people on Vancouver Island waiting for a screening colonoscopy. The backlog remained high throughout 2014 with 2,200 people waiting in April. The numbers peaked at 2,800 in June and were at 1,700 by October.
Today, Island Health has cut that waitlist by about half, said spokeswoman Sarah Plank.
On the South Island, 345 people are waiting for a screening colonoscopy as the result of a positive stool sample or having a first-degree relative with the disease. Another 614 people are waiting in the Central and North Island for a total of 959, said Island Health spokeswoman Sarah Plank. Of those, almost half — 442 — have had their colonoscopies booked.
“The average wait time is 57 days Island-wide,” Plank said. The benchmark is eight weeks.
Last year, statistics collated by the province showed that between April and September 2014, just 10 per cent of Island Health patients received their colonoscopies within the provincial benchmark. Island Health had one of the lowest rates in the province.
That number improved to 27 per cent when the time frame was expanded to December 2014.
On Wednesday, NDP health critic Judy Darcy raised the issue of colonoscopy wait times during question period in the legislature. She pointed to the case of Qualicum Beach resident Michael Goldman, whose case was raised late last year in the legislature.
Goldman had surgery for colon cancer in January 2011. A screening colonoscopy in June 2013 suggested he had a 40 per cent chance of recurrence, Darcy said. He has been waiting 20 months for his followup colonoscopy, she said.
B.C.’s health minister said the success of the screening program is good but that the wait times need to be corrected.
“I apologize for any patients that have had to wait longer than necessary,” Terry Lake said. “Having said that, all of the health authorities are working hard to reduce those waitlists and make sure that people are seen in a timely fashion for their followup procedures.”
The health minister said Island Health has hired additional nursing staff, increased hours for colonoscopies, and in January hired a new gastroenterologist.
“I accept that we need to do better,” Lake said. “We will do better. All health authorities are working to do that.”
Island Health said there was a miscommunication with Goldman and it will now see that his colonoscopy is scheduled.
Island Health projects it will complete 7,500 colonoscopies from positive FITs in 2014-15- triple the number the year the program was introduced.
