Hodgson uses misleading breast cancer stats

new-zealand-national-party

Mon Mar 12 2007 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)

Hodgson uses misleading breast cancer stats

Monday, 12 March 2007, 3:25 pm
Press Release: New Zealand National Party

Dr Jackie Blue MP
National Party Associate Health Spokeswoman

12 March 2007

"Pete Hodgson's statement in Parliament that New Zealand had only a 32.5% mastectomy rate was highly misleading,” says National Party Associate Health spokeswoman Jackie Blue.

“It’s difficult not to reach the conclusion that Mr Hodgson’s answers are an attempt to cover up his refusal to update hopelessly outdated surgical guidelines and to monitoring his own DHBs."

From an answer to a written question it is clear that the figure quoted by the Minister related to 2005 BreastScreen Aotearoa figures.

“The Minister does not seem to understand that not all women diagnosed and treated for breast cancer come through the screening programme.

“As BreastScreen Aotearoa screens only half of all eligible women in its target age group 45-69 years, there are many women with breast cancer who are not diagnosed or tracked through that programme.

“The BreastScreen treatment data also includes women who go on to have surgical treatment in the private sector.”

Dr Blue says an official information request to the 21 DHBs on breast surgical practices captured quite different data.

“The results were very revealing. They showed inconsistent practices around the country and highlighted the difficulty that some DHBs had in collecting and collating the data.

“One DHB admitted that getting the data would be too hard. Another gave me incorrect data, for which it apologised. Some ignored the request.”

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A national breast cancer database collating information from DHBs and existing databases would mean there would be a way to monitor trends, inconsistencies, and identify anomalies.

“Instead of making misleading statements Mr Hodgson should start to act like a Minister of Health, and display some real concern for those he is supposed to be working for.”

ENDS

Attached: Parliamentary Question 2107 & Answer to Oral Question 28 February – 2 pages.

Parliamentary Question 2107

Question: What was the information on which the Minister based the statement in answer to question for oral answer 7 on 28 February 2007 -"New Zealand's intervention rate for mastectomy is 32.5 percent" ; where can this information be sourced or located?

Portfolio: Health
Minister: Hon Pete Hodgson
Date Lodged:01/03/2007

Answer Text: The information on New Zealand's intervention rate for mastectomy was derived from Table 4.f of the BreastScreen Aotearoa Independent Monitoring Report July–December 2005. This report was published on the website www.healthywomen.org.nz

Attachment: None
Date Received:12/03/2007

Oral Question 28 February - 2007

7. Dr JACKIE BLUE (National) to the Minister of Health: Is he satisfied that women are receiving consistent breast cancer care throughout New Zealand?

Hon PETE HODGSON (Minister of Health): Women across New Zealand receive a high standard of breast cancer care but there is variation in clinical practice, which deserves closer scrutiny.

Dr Jackie Blue: Can the Minister explain why 74 percent of women with breast cancer who live in Nelson-Marlborough have a mastectomy, compared with only 30 percent of women who live in the Waikato?

Hon PETE HODGSON: I welcome the member’s interest in this important matter and I saw the figures she released yesterday. She will be aware that one of the figures she released yesterday, the highlighted figure, is in fact wrong. The MidCentral figure is about a third of that which she had initially thought it might be. Furthermore, the member requested what each district health board provided, rather than the rate of treatment based on where people live. She is therefore, inadvertently, unable to compare one population in a district with another, which is how comparisons of this ilk are usually made. I would make one last point. These decisions are, of course, clinical, not political.

Dr Jackie Blue: How will the Minister explain to the woman with breast cancer who lives in Rotorua that she has double the chance of having her breast removed, compared with a woman who lives less than an hour away, in Tauranga?

Hon PETE HODGSON: I will say again to the member that the figures she has quite carefully collected in her research are to do with where the surgery is provided. She is, therefore, unable to take into account any effects from intradistrict flows, where there are any.

Sue Moroney: Are there variations in surgical services other than mastectomy; if so, what is the Government going to do about them?

Hon PETE HODGSON: Yes, there are. Variations across the country exist for every surgical activity. Last year we began a process of making sure that data on intervention rates are as accurate as possible—itself a significant task, which will be completed in a few weeks. From 1 July this year we will then use the extra surgical electives funding to address low levels of intervention in this or that surgical procedure, where discussions with clinicians indicate that that is appropriate. I appreciate that mastectomy is a procedure where the optimal rate may be lower, not higher, than the existing rate.

Dr Jackie Blue: Does the Minister understand that breast cancer surgery, with the exception of breast cancer reconstructive surgery, would not normally require referral to another district health board, and however he wants to spin the data and make excuses, the fact is some women may be getting their breast removed unnecessarily because they are simply living in the wrong part of New Zealand?

Hon PETE HODGSON: I just say to the member that I agree with her that significant variation in intervention rates for anything is a measure of quality and that reduced variation means higher quality. The member, however, should reflect on this: New Zealand’s intervention rate for mastectomy is 32.5 percent. That is lower than the average across all of Europe and it is lower than that of the United States of America.

Dr Jackie Blue: Does the Minister agree that there is an urgent need to investigate why there are such differences in surgical practice and to update the current breast cancer surgical guidelines, which are well over a decade old, so women can be reassured that they will be getting the best surgical treatment for their breast cancer and not this current haphazard surgery by postcode?

Hon PETE HODGSON: The member will be interested to learn—I am sorry she did not already know—that as part of the Government’s cancer control strategy, guidelines are currently being updated for all breast cancer treatments, including of course the surgical options. [Interruption] The member has asked me whether I would like to do something; I am just replying and explaining to the fellow over there that we are already doing it. I say again to the member that she is right—variations in intervention rates for any surgical procedure perhaps indicate a lower quality than is ideal.

Dr Jackie Blue: Can the Minister guarantee that updated breast cancer surgical guidelines will be forthcoming, or will it be like the long-awaited update of the prostate cancer guidelines on the Ministry of Health website, which were promised 16 months ago but still nothing has happened?

Hon PETE HODGSON: The guidelines are under development now.

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