The New Zealand Cancer Society has welcomed the Government’s decision to upgrade the Cancer Registry, saying that the move will accrue benefits to all communities in the country.
The Society’s National Chief Executive Dalton Kelly said some of the benefits might not be immediately apparent but would help in treatment of Cancer.
“An upgraded and enhanced Registry will have a robustly populated cancer database that would help New Zealand researchers. They will have access to New Zealand-specific data on the incidence, treatment trends and outcomes of cancers,” he said.
According to Mr Kelly, such information is not currently available, obliging researchers to extrapolate data from other countries.
“Researchers know very little about the effects of cancer on Maori and Pacific Islanders and therefore can recommend very little at this stage. A robust and real-time Cancer Registry is long overdue,” he said.
Health Minister Tony Ryall told the delegates attending the International Cancer Symposium in Wellington on February 14 that the New Zealand Cancer Registry would go online.
“The Registry will be upgraded to include public and private data, collect data throughout a patient’s journey. It will be supervised by clinicians,” he said.
Mr Kelly said that planning for new and expensive, but effective equipment often lagged behind trends in treatment.
“The database in the enhanced Cancer Registry will enable monitoring of trends, such as moves from surgery to radiation treatment in real time. Health planners will see the trends as they happen, rather than wait for shortages and lengthening waiting times to indicate resources are needed,” he said.
