South Hobart/Sandy Bay Cricket Club (Photo credit: Wikipedia)A new national directory of cancer surgery waiting times shows Tasmanian hospitals are delivering faster services than many of the biggest hospitals in the country.
The online database, released yesterday, allows Tasmanian cancer patients to compare their hospital's performance with any other hospital in Australia.
The list shows the average wait for breast cancer surgery at the Royal Hobart Hospital is only eight days.
The average wait for prostate cancer surgery at the RHH is 28 days, compared with 30 days at Sydney's Prince of Wales, 63 days at Sydney's Royal North Shore and 44 days at Royal Brisbane Hospital.
Senior Hobart oncology physician Professor Ray Lowenthal said the data confirmed that, despite the ongoing concerns about budget cuts in the health system, important procedures were still being carried out within acceptable timeframes.
"The cancer area has been a bit protected because it is such a crucial area, and rightly so," said Prof Lowenthal, clinical professor of oncology at the University of Tasmania.
"The cancer area is not in crisis and people can get treatment in a timely fashion."
The average elective surgery waiting times for various cancers were added to the Federal Government's MyHospitals website yesterday.
Health Minister Tanya Plibersek said: "Waiting times on MyHospitals enables patients to find out more about local services and helps to drive improvements in hospital performance."
Other cancer surgery wait times at the RHH are: bladder, 25 days; bowel, 24 days; gynaecological, 16 days; lung, 11 days; melanoma, 13 days.
Cancer surgery wait times at the Launceston General Hospital are: bladder, 15 days; bowel, 19 days; breast, 11 days; gynaecological, 14 days; kidney, 29 days; melanoma, 11 days; prostate, 76 days.
State president of the Australian Medical Association John Davis said the data was a credit to the staff in Tasmanian hospitals, despite the fact the system was "falling apart".
Mr Davis, however, said the figures did not show the areas of health that were suffering severely because of the budget cuts to the system.
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