Frank Frizelle: Colorectal surgeon says dedicated cancer centres are a necessity

Prominent colorectal surgeon Frank Frizelle says it is now a necessity for dedicated cancer centres in New Zealand. 

The Christchurch-based surgeon believes if New Zealand does not adopt comprehensive cancer centres, the system will fail patients.

Frizelle told Heather du Plessis-Allan, "it's just about trying to give adequate volumes and concentrations of resources to try and get the best value for money".

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Nine two nine two is the text number standard text
fees applied. By the way, on that David Seymour, the
very guy who'd be dying to say no to him,
is going to be with us after five o'clock to
probably say no to him. Now, a leading colo rectal
surgeon says, now is a necessity that we established dedicated
cancer centers in New Zealand. Christ Church based Frank Frazel
has made the argument in an article in the New

(00:21):
Zealand Medical Journal. And he's with us now, Frank Hallo,
Hello Heaven. Would you set up am I right in
thinking you'd set this up in Auckland and christ Church?

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Yes, I think it opened the nature of New Zealand.
B Lotlin, Thin and Upland at one end and christ
Church near at the bottom is probably our for better
geographical distribution of staff and resources. Okay.

Speaker 1 (00:43):
And would these be cancer centers that would be for
the populations of Canterbury and Auckland or for the North
and South Island.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
It would be at the moment already a lot of
cancers as are focused on the treatment for a lot
of cancers. I focused on Auckland and christ Church and
christ Churches here from Hawk's Bay across to Fonganui South
and Auckland provide care for these cancers north of that line,
and that kind of works, and I imagine such a

(01:12):
similar line would be drawn again across US. And it's
just about trying to give adequate volumes and concentrations of
resources to try and get the best value for money
out of providing cancer care, trying to get the best
care for patients, because we have several issues at the moment.
One is that without the centralization, you end up with
all these individual places just doing the best they can,

(01:35):
which leads to considerable variation in the quality of care,
the type of treatment, both under treatment and overtreatment, and
trying to get effectively a standard treatment for a particular
tremor would be best for the patients. We mean, they
wouldn't get the side effects of treatment and they wouldn't

(01:55):
miss I've been undertreated.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
Also allow yeah, sorry, no, carry on please.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
The other thing would be it allows a concentration to
be able to train people, because it's very hard to
retain people and people to generally like to work with
other people in the same sort of area, and so
it allows for a concentration of stuff and therefore training
and retaining of stuff. But as well as that allows
the ability to bring research into clinical practice, which is

(02:26):
shown that when research pairs to be appropriate, the transition
to clinical practice is much faster and therefore patients are
able to get the latest treatment, the most appropriate of
it and aiming at the most appropriate tras.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
So tell me how it works at the moment, Frank,
If you get cancer and you get sent to Auckland,
where do you get sent Well.

Speaker 2 (02:45):
At the moment, if you happen to be in a
posential place and don't get treated by your local oncologist
in whatever place you are in that area, you get
seen to Auckland. If you get seen to Aukland Hospital,
they would treat you in Auckland. But that means that
you're already being selected as someone who's got something unusual
about you. Yeah, because most of the people will get
treated by the local oncologists in their local community.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
But are we then suggesting that we take all the
local oncologists and centralize stick everybody in Auckland.

Speaker 2 (03:15):
No, not at all. This is a hub and spoke
model and you still need people locally. But what we
need is a concentration of people to determine. So people
can these days with the Internet and zoom and all
this sort of thing, it's very easy to have consultations
for people and in their in their home with their.

Speaker 1 (03:34):
But aren't we already concentrating all the all the all
the oncologists in Auckland in Auckland Hospital or are they
also at Middlemore and also at my parkeety and all
over the show.

Speaker 2 (03:44):
That they are all over the show?

Speaker 1 (03:45):
Oh I see, okay, So where would you set this
up in Auckland?

Speaker 2 (03:48):
Well, I don't know. It depends where Auckland's already got
space aside for a cancer center and in the central
Auckland City Hospital and so sore some somewhere somewhere near
that campus would make sense.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
Yeah, well I can see the merits of this. Frank,
thanks very much for raising it with us. Appreciate it.
That is Frank Frazell, Professor. By the way, Frank Frazell,
christ Church based. For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive,
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