39534 (2024). Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall to the Minister of Health

39534 (2024). Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall to the Minister of Health: What progress has been made in the last quarter (January to March 2024) to ‘Ensure equitable and timely access to world-leading diagnostic services’ under Outcome 4: New Zealanders have better cancer survival, supportive care and end-of-life care, as part of the New Zealand Cancer Action Plan 2019 – 2029?

Hon Dr Shane Reti: I am advised that progress against this action in the January to March 2024 quarter includes: • Sign off of the Lung cancer pathway, which will provide direct access to CT scans. • Work continued on the Abnormal Uterine Bleeding Pathway. • The launch of Faecal Immunochemical Testing (FIT) which will roll out the use of a FIT test for non-urgent symptomatic patient awaiting colonoscopy, and new referrals with lower GI symptoms to support early diagnosis of bowel cancer. • This National PET-CT indication list and criteria was updated. This will help address these geographical differences by ensuring national consistency regarding access to PET-CT scans. • Work continued on a National Cancer Clinical Network network, which will look at models of care and pathways that provide high quality, timely care to diagnosis and treatment to cancer patients. This network is due to go live in 2024/25. • The National Travel Assistance (NTA) Scheme was reviewed and planned changes agreed that will significantly improve the scheme for rural and complex care patients. This will support patients to access diagnostics and treatment.