Publicly funded radiotherapy is only available in New Zealand's six specialist cancer centres, meaning rural patients have to travel for treatment.

As all Governments grapple with the balancing act of accounting for fattening and ageing populations, as well as keeping an insatiable vacuum of funds in check, Political Reporter Stacey Kirk takes a look at the pressure points threatening to weaken New Zealand's public health system.

Cancer is a terrifying word for most New Zealanders, because it affects so many. More than 21,000 new cancer diagnoses are made each year.

It's a reasonable expectation that cancer will at some point become a part of someone's life, in one way or another.

Over a two-year period, the number of new cancer diagnoses increased by more than 700.

According to Ministry of Health figures, total cancer diagnoses rates, across the 10 most diagnosed cancers in New Zealand between 2012 and 2014, have trended steadily upwards, hitting 16,108.

Among males, diagnoses for prostate cancer far outstrip the likes of bowel and lung cancers. But for both men and women, bowel and lung cancer are two of the biggest killers.

Smoking is the major cause of lung cancer, with around 85 per cent of people who die from lung cancer identifying as smokers.

Health Minister Jonathan Coleman said: "Lung cancer is the biggest cause of cancer death in New Zealand and disproportionately affects our most vulnerable populations."

Among women, while melanoma and lung cancer rates have held steady over the three years to 2015, bowel (or colorectum) cancer and breast cancer rates have tracked steadily upwards.

Bowel cancer is among the biggest killers in New Zealand, yet there is no national screening programme for it. That's largely due to the amount of work it would create, and concerns the current workforce could not keep up.

A screening pilot in Waitemata DHB has proven highly successful, and the Government has confirmed a national programme is inevitable. But there will be a cost.

And where it becomes increasingly more difficult to attract capable specialist staff to hospitals throughout the country, the Government must become more creative in lifting the qualifications of existing staff.

The Government cancer target is to see 85 per cent of patients receive their first treatment within 62 days of being referred with a high suspicion of cancer, increasing to 90 per cent by June 2017.

Additionally, patients with symptoms suggestive of lung cancer should be seen by a specialist within 14 days of their referral.

Few DHBs are hitting the target at all, let alone consistently. But the target is new, and has only been in place since the second quarter of the last financial year.