Gynaecological cancer pathway for faster cancer treatment: a repeat clinical audit

This clinical audit aimed to review cancer management pathways for patients with gynaecological cancers in Northland in order to evaluate whether there has been an improvement compared to previous audit periods and look for differences between ethnicities.

186 Northland patients with a new diagnosis of gynaecological cancer were discussed at the Auckland gynaecology-oncology multidisciplinary meeting (MDM) between 1 January 2018 and 31 December 2020. Patient demographics and data pertaining to cancer care was collected and compared to datapoints set out in the original audit, derived from the Ministry of Health Faster Cancer Treatment (FCT) targets and standards of service provision.

89.2% of patients had their first treatment within 31 days of treatment decision, and 66.9% had their first treatment within 62 days of referral, an improvement compared to previous audit periods. Wait times were shorter but there were still delays in obtaining histology, MDM discussion and receiving treatment. There were also differences between treatment locations, as well as between Māori and non-Māori.

There has been an overall improvement in gynaecological cancer service provision for Northland patients. However, outcomes still fall short of the national FCT targets and there are on-going disparities between Māori and non-Māori.