No timeline for radiation services at new Corner Brook hospital: NLHS

Eight months after the opening of the new Western Regional Memorial Hospital in Corner Brook, radiation therapy services are still not up and running. 

Teri Stuckless, the clinical chief of the provincial cancer care program, says she's hesitant to give timelines as hiring issues continue.

"There's a critical number of people we need on the ground at the site to be able to safely turn on the machine. And right now, probably one of the bigger absences is a radiation oncologist or a physician at the site," Stuckless told Radio-Canada on Monday.

Promises for the addition of radiation therapy service at the new hospital can be traced as far back as the Progressive Conservative government of 2014. In August 2019, former Liberal premier Dwight Ball announced that commitment was continuing.

Now, six years later, Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services continues to recruit for vacant positions. There are two vacancies for radiation oncologists, two vacancies for radiotherapy positions and a vacancy for a medical physicist among other positions, Stuckless said.

"We anticipated it would be difficult to get the staff that we need. Not just the physician staff.…They're just jobs that right now in the world are in high demand," she said.

"I really hesitate to give a timeline. You know, I'd hate to have people hold us to something that, really, is a bit out of our control."

'All promises', no results: Corner Brook advocate says

For Corner Brook residents like Gerald Parsons and Israel Hann, each whom have spent over a decade advocating for cancer care in Corner Brook, that answer isn't good enough.

"I don't understand what's going on. They've had since 2017 to recruit a radiation oncologist. …That's when we talked about the radiation [with former premier Dwight Ball]," Parsons said. "They've been all promises over the years. And it's about time for the government to get something in place for radiation in Corner Brook."

Equipment needed for radiation therapy is in place at the new hospital, but Stuckless said specialized staff must be in place for it to be used safely.

Hann said families who need to travel to St. John's from western Newfoundland for cancer care struggle being away from their comforts and families for long periods of time.

"It's always better if you've got family close when you got cancer," Hann said.

"I spent five weeks in St. John's with my wife, and I know what it is to be in a hotel with no family around."

Parsons voiced his concern over how oncologist vacancies have yet to be filled, especially since the government knew these positions would be needed since 2017 or before.

But, Stuckless says trying to attract someone to a job that is years away would have been impossible.

"Until you have a position to advertise and hire to, you know, it's really hard to get someone to sign on the dotted line to say 'OK, you know what, I'll come work for you in five years," she said.

Eddie Joyce, the Independent MHA for Humber-Bay of Islands, believes the province should increase the incentives it offers to radiation oncologists. He said increasing those benefits would likely offset what the province pays in travel subsidies for people who need to avail of cancer care.

"They had six, seven years to recruit. And the recruitment for the radiation oncologist was left on the back burner," Joyce said.

"If you got to pay extra funding to have this radiation oncologist in Corner Brook, I'd be the first one to say I agree with it."

The provincial government announced it will also add a new PET scanner to the new Corner Brook hospital in November, but CBC News was told at the time that licensing that machine for use could take two years.

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