AUSTRALIAN blokes are suffering from a shocking gender gap in treatment for deadly cancers, with half of men who need prostate surgery waiting more than four months compared to just days for women with breast cancer.

More men die from prostate cancer each year (3,235) than women who die from breast cancer (2864) but a News Corp Australia investigation finds the male cancer is given a much lower priority.

The biggest gender gap nationally is at St Vincent’s Hospital, in Sydney, a comparison of wait times provided on the government’s MyHospital website shows.

News_Module: NND Prostatectomy

Prostatectomies, used in the treatment of prostate cancer at St Vincent’s had a median wait time of 115 days compared to 6 days for breast cancer surgery — a difference of 109 days.

Tamworth Hospital followed with a difference of 94 days followed by 86 days at Shoalhaven Hospital.

A spokesman for St Vincent’s Hospital said as breast cancer surgeries involve malignancies, they are prioritised and performed within a shorter time frame.

“In the case of St Vincent’s the vast majority of our patient cohort were benign cases involving partial prostatectomies, hence the greater than average waiting times for patients.”

In Northern New South Wales the wait is even longer. Patients in Murwillumbah Hospital need to wait 189 days for prostatectomies.

Royal Prince Alfred Hospital had the lowest wait time in the state with 13 days.

The national average is 42 days.

A spokesman for the NSW Ministry for Health said Murwillumbah District Hospital performed surgeries on patients with less urgent conditions, placing them in lower clinical priority categories, but they continue to monitor performances as demand for surgeries continues to increase.

Prostate Cancer Foundation spokesman Professor Anthony Lowe says wait times for prostate cancer have been a long term issue and they are getting worse.

Waiting times in the public sector are twice as long as the private sector due to a shortage of specialists, he said.

“We don’t want to compare with breast cancer. We just want men to be seen. It is good that women are being seen is such a timely fashion,” he said.

News_Image_File: Gender gap ... Adrien Kuffer with his Geelong prostate cancer group.

Monash University cancer expert Professor Ian Haines says there is no real evidence that prostate cancer surgery changes the natural history of the disease.

“We’re good at curing prostate cancers that aren’t a problem but not good at curing those biologically programmed to kill you,” he says.

He argues against testing for the disease because the PSA test can’t distinguish between deadly and non deadly tumours.

“I’m seeing so many men having surgery that is not necessary and even after the surgery their

PSA goes up,” he says.

The gender gap for Victoria was biggest at Geelong Hospital a comparison of wait times provided on the government’s MyHospital website shows.

Prostatectomies, used in the treatment of prostate cancer in Geelong had a median wait time of 94 days compared to 7 days or breast cancer surgery — a difference of 87 days.

According to Geelong Hospital, the growing demand for urological procedures is responsible for blowouts in median times.

“All patients are clinically prioritised, with urgent cases done within the clinically recommended time frames,” said Peter Watson, Executive Director of Surgical Service. “Non-urgent cases may have experienced longer waits during this period.”

The increased demand and extensive wait times has resulted in Barwon Health recently employing an additional Urologist to assist.

St Vincent’s Hospital trailed Geelong with a gap of 82 days followed by 45 days at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute.

Angliss Hospital had the best performance for prostatectomies in the state, with a median wait time of 14 days.

The national average is 42 days.

According to Ben Kelly, Chief of Clinical and Site Operations at Angliss Hospital, using the Eastern Health network enables patients to be responded to more quickly.

“In order to further improve surgery waiting times, we have introduced the utilisation of our surgical resources across Eastern Health to offer more patients their surgery more quickly,” said Mr Kelly.

Sixty three year old Adrien Kuffer from Geelong says after two PSA tests found a problem and a lump appeared on his prostate in April 2011 it took more than four months to get an appointment with a specialist urologist at Geelong Hospital.

Then he had to wait another month for a biopsy.

When that test showed he had cancer he had to wait a further three months for surgery.

Mr Kuffer said the longest wait he had was trying to get an initial appointment with a specialist.

“Mr doctor sent the referral to the specialist on April 2, I got a letter back saying there was a two month wait to see the specialist urologist even though it was urgent,” he said.

“When I rang again in June they said it would be another four weeks and I didn’t get in to see the specialist until the 28th of August,” he said.

Prostate Cancer Foundation spokesman Professor Anthony Lowe says wait times for prostate cancer have been a long term issue and they are getting worse.

Waiting times in the public sector are twice as long as the private sector due to a shortage of specialists, he said.

“We don’t want to compare with breast cancer. We just want men to be seen. It is good that women are being seen is such a timely fashion,” he said.

Monash University cancer expert Professor Ian Haines says there is no real evidence that prostate cancer surgery changes the natural history of the disease.

“We’re good at curing prostate cancers that aren’t a problem but not good at curing those biologically programmed to kill you,” he says.

He argues against testing for the disease because the PSA test can’t distinguish between deadly and non deadly tumours.

“I’m seeing so many men having surgery that is not necessary and even after the surgery their PSA goes up,” he says.

The gender gap for Queensland was biggest at The Townsville Hospital a comparison of wait times provided on the government’s MyHospital website shows. Prostatectomies, used in the treatment of prostate cancer, had a median wait time of 101 days at Townsville compared to 15 days or breast cancer surgery — a difference of 86 days.

News_Image_File: Prostate cancer surgery waiting times increasing ... Professor Anthony Lowe.

“A higher proportion of breast surgery is undertaken for cancer treatment compared to prostate surgery, which is why our median wait for breast procedures is lower,” said Julia Squire, Chief Executive of the Townsville Hospital and Health Service.

Hervey Bay Hospital followed with a gap of 56 days and a gap of 41 days was recorded at Nambour Hospital.

Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Hospital had the best performance for prostatectomies, with a wait time of 20 days.

But the MyHospitals data, aimed at increasing hospital transparency, appears to have made a difference with hospitals performances. Future data will reveal the median wait time for prostatectomies at The Townsville Hospital has almost halved to 55 days, as Mrs Squire reports they have recruited an additional urologist in response to increasing demand for prostatectomies.

Prostate Cancer Foundation spokesman Professor Anthony Lowe says wait times for prostate cancer have been a long term issue and they are getting worse.

Waiting times in the public sector are twice as long as the private sector due to a shortage of specialists, he said.

“We don’t want to compare with breast cancer. We just want men to be seen. It is good that women are being seen is such a timely fashion,” he said.

Monash University cancer expert Professor Ian Haines says there is no real evidence that prostate cancer surgery changes the natural history of the disease.

“We’re good at curing prostate cancers that aren’t a problem but not good at curing those biologically programmed to kill you,” he says.

He argues against testing for the disease because the PSA test can’t distinguish between deadly and non deadly tumours.

“I’m seeing so many men having surgery that is not necessary and even after the surgery their PSA goes up,” he says.

The gender gap for South Australia was biggest at Modbury Hospital a comparison of wait times provided on the government’s MyHospital website shows. Prostatectomies, used in the treatment of prostate cancer, had a median wait time of 42 days compared to 8 days or breast cancer surgery — a difference of 34 days.

A spokesman for SA Health said the differences were due to the categorisation of surgeries.

“While prostatectomy is commonly classified as a Category 2 procedure, when a patient is diagnosed with breast cancer their clinical need for surgery is usually classified as Category 1 meaning that urgent treatment is required within 30 days,” he said.

Overall wait times for prostatectomies were higher at the Royal Adelaide Hospital with a median wait time of 47 days.

The Queen Elizabeth Hospital followed with a wait time of 46 days.

The Whyalla Hospital was the best performing hospital in the state for prostatectomies, with a median wait time of just five days.

SA Health said local factor result in median wait times differing significantly throughout the state.

“Average waiting times for elective surgery procedures are influenced by a range of factors including for example a hospitals local catchment population, numbers of referrals received, total number of patients on the waiting list at a point in time, the availability of theatres and need to balance elective surgery with emergency service demands, and the available workforce,” the spokesman said.

But the MyHospitals data, aimed at increasing hospital transparency, appears to have made a difference with hospitals performances. Future data will reveal the median wait time for prostatectomies at Royal Adelaide Hospital has been cut to 35 days.

Prostate Cancer Foundation spokesman Professor Anthony Lowe says wait times for prostate cancer have been a long term issue and they are getting worse.

Waiting times in the public sector are twice as long as the private sector due to a shortage of specialists, he said.

“We don’t want to compare with breast cancer. We just want men to be seen. It is good that women are being seen is such a timely fashion,” he said.

Monash University cancer expert Professor Ian Haines says there is no real evidence that prostate cancer surgery changes the natural history of the disease.

“We’re good at curing prostate cancers that aren’t a problem but not good at curing those biologically programmed to kill you,” he says.

He argues against testing for the disease because the PSA test can’t distinguish between deadly and non deadly tumours.

“I’m seeing so many men having surgery that is not necessary and even after the surgery their PSA goes up,” he says.

The gender gap for Tasmania was biggest at Royal Hobart Hospital a comparison of wait times provided on the government’s MyHospital website shows. Prostatectomies, used in the treatment of prostate cancer, had a median wait time of 53 days compared to 11 days or breast cancer surgery — a difference of 45 days.

Launceston General Hospital recorded a gap of 33 days as prostatectomies took an average of 45 days.

“Patients with cancer are treated as a priority, and in order of clinical urgency, as assessed by clinical staff, and delivered within the resources available.” Adrianne Belchamber, Group Manager Surgical Services for Tasmanian Health Organisation-South.

Future data to be released on the MyHospital website for 2012-13 will show Royal Hobart has been able to reduce the wait time for prostatectomies by one day to 52 days. But for Launceston, the wait has increased by 7 days.

John Kirwan, CEO of Tasmanian Health Organisation-North, said they were aware of the waiting list issues in Launceston General Hospital and were implementing a number of initiatives including a “total rebuild of the LGH surgical suite, with additional theatres, to be opened later in 2014” as well as recruiting additional hospital staff.

Michael Pervan, Deputy Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, said elective surgery demand was high in the state.

“Tasmania’s health system has among the highest per capita demand for elective surgery in the country,” he said.

“Tasmania’s frontline staff do an outstanding job in the face of growing demand. We know that there is room for improvement in waiting times for elective surgery and we are working closely with the three Tasmanian Health Organisations to achieve this.”

Sixty three year old Adrien Kuffer from Geelong says after two PSA tests found a problem and a lump appeared on his prostate in April 2011 it took more than four months to get an appointment with a specialist urologist at Geelong Hospital.

Then he had to wait another month for a biopsy.

When that test showed he had cancer he had to wait a further three months for surgery.

Mr Kuffer said the longest wait he had was trying to get an initial appointment with a specialist.

“Mr doctor sent the referral to the specialist on April 2, I got a letter back saying there was a two month wait to see the specialist urologist even though it was urgent,” he said.

“When I rang again in June they said it would be another four weeks and I didn’t get in to see the specialist until the 28th of August,” he said.

Prostate Cancer Foundation spokesman Professor Anthony Lowe says wait times for prostate cancer have been a long term issue and they are getting worse.

Waiting times in the public sector are twice as long as the private sector due to a shortage of specialists, he said.

“We don’t want to compare with breast cancer. We just want men to be seen. It is good that women are being seen is such a timely fashion,” he said.

Monash University cancer expert Professor Ian Haines says there is no real evidence that prostate cancer surgery changes the natural history of the disease.

“We’re good at curing prostate cancers that aren’t a problem but not good at curing those biologically programmed to kill you,” he says.

He argues against testing for the disease because the PSA test can’t distinguish between deadly and non deadly tumours.

“I’m seeing so many men having surgery that is not necessary and even after the surgery their PSA goes up,” he says.