A leaked letter shows the effects of this Government’s wait lists as people with bowel cancer are waiting so long that it is too late to cure them, National’s Health spokesperson Dr Shane Reti says.

A letter signed by every specialist in the previous Bay of Plenty DHB was forwarded to Health NZ in June this year as part of a handover declaring risks in each hospital.

“This damning letter states that people who could have been cured of bowel cancer have been forced to wait too long, and now are being put through palliative care instead,” says Dr Reti.

“This will be heart-breaking news to many New Zealanders who know someone affected by cancer. Early diagnostic and treatment is the best chance for survival, but that doesn’t mean a thing if the Health Minister has caused wait lists to blow out so much that people aren’t being treated in time.

“This is yet another example of failure in the health sector under this Labour Government and its Health Minister. How many more things have to go wrong before they admit there is a crisis?

“Under this Government’s watch they have removed lifesaving health targets, spent billions on a bureaucratic health restructure instead of the front line, and delivered some of the worst health statistics ever recorded.

“After five years in office, it is time Labour took some responsibility for their failures.

“A National Government will reinstate the health targets that Labour removed, immediately put nurses on the straight to residency pathway and increase health funding every year.”