Northwest LHIN shows improvements in several cancer-care categories

Cancer care in Northwestern Ontario can always improve, says Mark Henderson.

But, the regional vice-president of Cancer Care Ontario and chief of staff at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre said, overall patients diagnosed with the often deadly disease can expect expedient, high-quality treatment.

The numbers are borne out by the Cancer System Quality Index, which indicates while there are areas the Northwest Local Health Integration Network are lacking, there are many more where treatment meets or exceeds the provincial standard.

Still others have shown marked improvements over last year’s rates.

The region scored high for its use of positive emission tomography and CT scan technology, ranking second in the Ontario, while leading the way in lung-cancer treatment, according to Ministry of Health guidelines.

In 2013 the hospital performed 931 PED/CT scans, 190 more than in 2012. That’s also 260 more than the Ontario average.

However, when it comes to screening for breast and cervical cancers, the percentage who have had either a mammogram in the past two years or Pap test in the past three years has actually dropped. A lack of radiologists hasn’t helped.

“Overall I think we’re doing pretty well,” Henderson said on Friday. “Any of the common cancers can be treated here in Thunder Bay. And if you have an unusually rare form of cancer, we have agreements with other hospitals in Toronto, Hamilton and Ottawa and they will look after our patients for us.”

Henderson acknowledged cancer is more of an issue in the Northwest, where lifestyle choices such as drinking and smoking are higher than elsewhere in Ontario and exercise participation levels are lower.

Despite an ongoing attempt to convince people to lead healthier lives, it’s not easy to exact change, Henderson said.

“I think they’re hearing the message,” he said. “But perhaps they’re not getting it.

“If you look back over the past 10 years, the incidences of smoking have not really changed very much. It’s the same with exercise and the same with diet. We’re not doing as well as we could do. And I guess that’s an individual decision.”

Of the 61 categories measured in the Northwest LHIN, the region saw drops in service in just three categories, with improvement shown in nine areas. An additional 16 showed no change, while no data was available in the remainder for the most recent year surveyed.

The LHIN surpassed the Ontario standard in 16 categories, but fell below it in 19.