Daffodil Cottage Advisory Committee chair Peta Gurdon-O’Meara said, however, that as the number of patients needing chemotherapy in Bathurst continues to rise, it is vital to ensure adequate funding for cancer services in rural areas is forthcoming. 

It has been reported that Dr Peter Fox, an oncologist who services both Daffodil Cottage and Orange Health Service, has told Sydney media that within the next 12 months, patients from Orange and Bathurst may have to travel to Sydney because current workloads cannot be maintained.

Orange surgeon and cancer care advocate Dr Stuart Porges in turn said he was concerned about these comments. 

He added he was disappointed to learn nurses were working unpaid overtime to ensure patients were treated in a timely manner.

Dr Porges called on the Western NSW Local Health District to review its funding and provide adequate staff to provide chemotherapy services so there were no delays or waiting lists.

“It seems the provision of chemotherapy is not keeping up with the other cancer services we provide,” he said.

In Bathurst, Ms Gurdon-O’Meara agreed that there is always a need for more funding for cancer services.

“It is, unfortunately, a growth industry, that with the retirement of the baby boomers is going to get even worse,” she said.

“That is why the Daffodil Cottage Advisory Committee has an expansion program in place to double the capacity of Daffodil Cottage for the treatment of chemotherapy patients in Bathurst.

“The last thing we want to see happen is for patients to need to go to Sydney for treatment.”

However, Ms Gurdon-O’Meara said at the moment staff at Bathurst’s Daffodil Cottage are keeping abreast of the demand. In order to do that, though, nurses are working longer hours.

She said some chemo treatments are very complex and need administering over longer periods of time. Of course, patients cannot be left alone. 

“We have a few patients in that category,” she said.

“Whether the state government likes it or not, they have to provide adequate funding for rural areas. There’s no way around it.

“If we are forced to send patients to Sydney, they won’t be able to deal with the flood of additional people requiring treatment. It would be a retrograde step.”

Ms Gurdon O’Meara said chemotherapy staff are highly qualified and it is hard enough to attract medical professionals to the country as it is.

She said it took a whole year to attract the city’s current oncologists.

Orange is the only centre in the Western NSW Local Health District that offers linear accelerator facilities for radiotherapy treatment.