B.C. Health Minister Josie Osborne attributed the reduced wait times to hiring more specialists, upgrading hospitals and expanding innovative treatments under the province’s 10-year cancer action plan.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
British Columbia is ending a program that was sending cancer patients to the U.S. for radiation therapy, citing progress made to improve local capacity.
BC Cancer, a provincially funded treatment and research organization, launched the temporary program in May, 2023, in response to unacceptable wait times in the local system. A total of 1,107 patients have completed radiation therapy at two private clinics in Bellingham, Wash., to date, with nine others scheduled to complete treatment by the end of May, the Ministry of Health said in a statement on Monday.
At its peak, in the fall of 2023, about 50 patients were being treated in Bellingham each week.
Health Minister Josie Osborne attributed the reduced wait times to hiring more specialists, upgrading hospitals and expanding innovative treatments under the province’s 10-year cancer action plan, announced in February, 2023.
“Thanks to the progress we’ve made over the past two years, we can now safely wind down this temporary program and focus on getting patients the care they need in B.C.,” she said in a statement on Monday.
A 2022 Globe and Mail investigation found that staff shortages, burnout, insufficient technology and a growing and aging population had put B.C.’s cancer system on the brink.
At that time, only one in five patients referred to an oncologist received a first consultation within the recommended two weeks, and only 88 per cent of patients requiring radiation were able to start within four weeks, the national benchmark for the maximum amount of time deemed appropriate to wait, making it the poorest performing province in a country where the national average was 97 per cent.
In 2023-2024, that fell to just 72 per cent of B.C. patients, compared to a national average of 94 per cent, according to data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information.
In Monday’s update, the Ministry of Health said that, as of the end of February, about 93 per cent of patients were waiting less than four weeks to start radiation therapy, compared to a national benchmark of 90 per cent.
Based on current participation rates, the ministry estimated that only 104 patients – or 0.6 per cent of 16,900 patients projected to need radiation treatment in 2025-2026 – would access treatment in the U.S. in the coming year if the program was to continue. These patients can be accommodated in B.C., the ministry said.
Sending patients across the border for radiation therapy costs the province about three times the amount for the treatment at home, The Globe reported in May, 2023.
The ministry said at the time that most patients receive five doses of radiation therapy, which would have cost $3,854 at home, compared with $12,277 at the private cancer centres in Bellingham.
This does not include other expenses such as travel, accommodations and meals for the patient and a caregiver. The province earmarked up to $39-million a year for the initiative, which includes $5-million annually in contingencies.
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