Starship needs long-term plan in place, Child Cancer Foundation warns

The Child Cancer Foundation is calling for a long-term plan for staffing at Starship Children's Hospital, to put an end to delays with child cancer treatment.

In August, 85 percent of shifts at Starship's child cancer ward were short-staffed. In October, so far about one in three nursing shifts have been below staffing targets.

Starship has also confirmed 20 cycles of chemotherapy had to be delayed by up to a week, with two bone marrow transplants postponed and two children outside Auckland taken to Christchurch for assessments.

Child Cancer Foundation chief executive Monica Briggs said she'd heard from families with serious concerns over the delays.

"I think that this has been years in the making and that it is a point of reflection and a point of learning so we don't get here again," she told Checkpoint.

There needed to be long-term planning for staff retention, recruitment, training and supervision, she said.

"You can't simply pull nurses from another ward and expect them to immediately cover those roles."

Graduates needed supervision and support too, she said.

"That supervision needs to come from more experienced paediatric oncology nurses. So we don't want to lose them either."

Paediatric oncology in New Zealand had world-class outcomes, with about 85 percent survival rates nowadays - drastically higher than the 28 percent in the country seen in the 1970s.

"It has taken decades to build that and we need to protect that for the next generation.

"We don't want to see staff burning out and we don't want to see attrition of a very specialised workforce that have contributed to these world-class outcomes that we see.

Transparency about how the country has reached this point and what we've learned was crucial, Briggs said.

"It isn't just about one difficult winter. We have winter every year."

Health Minister Simeon Brown met with families of children being treated at Starship on Friday.

Last week Brown addressed news of the delays, clarifying that no treatment had been suspended.

"There have been a small number of nursing vacancies in Starship's oncology service, which Health NZ advises me have come about through natural attrition, such as parental leave and retirement," he said.

"These vacancies have all now been filled or recruited to. As I have always said, Health NZ is actively recruiting to vacancies and there is no hiring freeze at Health NZ."

He raised concerns about political leaders discussing delays to cancer treatment.

"Now that the facts are out, I ask them to please consider the families who are already going through the hardest time of their lives and don't need this added unnecessary worry."