A colonoscopy is not a procedure many would queue for, and yet we are, in the thousands. Some spend anxious months – even years – in a very long line and only reach the front by battling the system.
Jan Maling’s pet name for her husband is “Tiger” but her efforts to fast-track his colonoscopy show a fierce strength and courage of her own.
In November their doctor said Neil, 77, needed a colonoscopy, quickly, to confirm bowel cancer. But six weeks went by with no date from the Bendigo Hospital.
“He was anxious the whole time. He would say to me, ‘This cancer’s not on holidays, it’s just gnawing away, moving through’,” Jan says.
Like Neil, thousands of Australians with bowel cancer symptoms, or who test positive to blood in their stool through the free bowel cancer screening program, are waiting months for a colonoscopy to learn if they have cancer.
Charity Bowel Cancer Australia wants this changed, and recently petitioned Canberra politicians to guarantee a colonoscopy for those in need within 120 days.
While four months is nowhere near the four weeks that cancer experts deem optimal, it is better than a system that now sees nine in 10 Australians who test positive to blood in their stool wait between 116 and 181 days for a follow-up colonoscopy.
Anger and anxiety sparks action
Faced with these delays, many are being forced to game the system – like changing their address – or they get vocal.
Jan Maling soon emailed the hospital CEO because every day spent waiting for a diagnosis seemed like a week.
“I said ‘There seems to be a delay, what are you going to do about this deplorable situation?’’,” she says.