Edmonton resident Michelle Mackness says she's frustrated about her mother Denise, 80, having to wait three to four months to see a medical oncologist at the Cross Cancer Institute to deal with her inoperable pancreatic cancer. .“I would like to know what the Cross is thinking,” said Michelle in an interview. .“I mean she could die waiting for treatment.” .Michelle said the ordeal started when Denise was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer through a CT scan in November. Denise had been complaining about pain in her mid-back area. .The diagnosis was confirmed with an endoscope at the Royal Alexandra Hospital two days later. Michelle called the news “devastating.” .She went to pick up Denise after the endoscopy and asked a nurse if there was any other tasks she needed to do. The nurse said she was done and could go. .The surgeon called Denise on December 1 and said she left before he could give her the papers. He said the Cross Cancer Institute would call her by December 9. .There was no news from the facility by December 8, so Michelle called the referral desk to ask about the referral. The referral desk said it had no record of any referral. .She called the surgeon, her mother’s family doctor, and the Cross Cancer Institute’s medical director between December 8 and 14 to try and find out what the next steps would be. She was able to obtain a referral backdated to December 2 after multiple phone calls. .Denise’s first consultation at the Cross Cancer Institute was January 3. Michelle said the consultation was uninformative, because all they discussed was radiology and no other treatment options. .The radiologist arranged for a chest X-ray on January 3 followed by blood work. That was meant to establish what stage Denise was in. .A referral for medical oncology was made that day, and she was told on January 4 by the referral desk the wait time would be two to three months. .When she expressed concerns around the delays, the radiologist said it did not matter, as her cancer was going to spread anyways. While the radiologist appeared to be stressed out, she said this comment was inexcusable. .Denise had a chest X-ray on January 3, which technicians denied at first because they thought it was on February 5. Michelle said she does not know how anyone goes through the system alone. .Doctors scanned Denise’s lungs and did some blood work. The radiologist called her mother the next day, but she did not want to talk because it was too late and was tired. .She offered some times working for her, and she never heard back. No one contacted Denise to tell her about an appointment arranged by the doctors. .Michelle saw doctors had arranged an appointment for Denise without telling her through the MyAlberta app. She would have missed it had she not been at her daughter’s house. .They met with the doctor, and a technician said she was not supposed to eat or drink for one hour before the test. She had not been told this information, but she happened to abide by it. .Michelle said she is displeased with the wait times and all of the miscommunication and misinformation, as the average life expectancy for pancreatic cancer patients is measured in months. Denise is in a good place now, but she said she is concerned she has to wait two months for medical oncology. .She said it's important cancer patients receive timely care “so they don’t die.” .“If you look up Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto, their pancreatic centre sees people within two or three weeks,” she said. .Canadian patients waited longer than ever this year for medical treatment, according to a December 8 study done by the Fraser Institute. .READ MORE: Study finds Canada’s healthcare wait times hit longest ever recorded.“The results of this year’s survey indicate COVID-19 and related hospital closures have exacerbated, but are not the cause of Canada’s historic wait times challenges,” said Fraser Institute Centre for Health Policy Studies Director and study co-author Bacchus Barua. .The study, an annual survey of doctors across Canada, said the country has a median wait time of 27.4 weeks, longer than the wait of 25.6 weeks reported in 2021. It said this wait time is 195% higher than the 9.3 weeks recorded in 1993, when the Fraser Institute began tracking. .Alberta Health Services Edmonton Zone senior advisor, media relations and issues management Kristi Bland could not be reached for comment.
