Almost 200 N.L. cancer patients sent to Ontario for care because of radiation therapist shortage

An ongoing shortage of radiation therapists in Newfoundland and Labrador has resulted in almost 200 of the province's cancer patients travelling to Toronto for radiation treatments since last November.

Last November, the Department of Health and Community Services began sending "select cancer patients" out of the province for "continued access to radiation treatment," according to a statement sent to CBC News.

Between Nov. 1, 2022, and Sept. 27, 2023, the statement said, "the provincial cancer-care program made 222 referrals for patients to receive services out of province. In total, 193 have been treated or are being treated during this period." 

Health officials with N.L. Health Services say the availability of treatment in Newfoundland and Labrador has increased since the province started sending patients to Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto last fall.

"We have recruited up to 50 per cent of our outstanding positions. We have four remaining positions within the St. John's vicinity that we are … working with our HR department in recruitment for those remaining positions," said Beth Snow, senior director of the cancer-care program.

There are four cancer treatment units with medical linear accelerators providing radiation therapy at the Dr. H. Bliss Murphy Cancer Centre in St. John's.

One of those units was closed in September 2022 because of the shortage. Health officials say it remains closed.

Treatment hours expanded

Treatment hours at the other three cancer units have been expanded, but Snow says some cancer patients aren't getting treatments within the 28-day national standard.

She says as few as 50 per cent of cancer patients were receiving prescribed radiation therapies within the national standard of 28 days, but that rate has increased to 70 per cent of patients.

Progressive Conservative health critic Paul Dinn is calling on the province to act more quickly to solve the problem.

"People want to know that when they need health care, it's there. They can access it … and they know they will be looked after. When you are dealing with individuals that cannot get the treatment in their own province, there's something wrong with that, drastically wrong with that," said Dinn.

He also expressed concerns about patients not receiving radiation therapy within the 28-day national standard.

"Any delay in treatment, especially when you are dealing with cancer, is unacceptable," said Dinn.

The union that represents radiation therapists in Newfoundland and Labrador says retention of health-care professionals is the real problem and most of the province's six new recruits have only made short-term commitments to stay.

"There are two for a two-year period and three for a three-year period. So we have to think ahead now, in the event that somebody decides to leave, we can't be in the same situation," said Jerry Earle, president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Public and Private Employees.

Snow said the province's health authority is taking steps to convince new recruits to remain in the province.

"Our HR strategists are working very closely with the Health Department in how we can provide incentives for radiation therapists and for our teams, so that when we recruit them to the province, they have incentives to stay," she said

Snow said two of the recently recruited radiation therapists will be working at a new cancer treatment unit in Corner Brook that's expected to open before the fall of 2024.

Dinn said he worries the province won't have enough radiation therapists to staff cancer treatment units in both St. John's and Corner Brook.

"There's still a treatment unit that remains vacant in St. John's," he said. "We got to do all we can to ensure that we get the staff in there and that individuals can be treated in their home province with all their family and supports around them."

Snow said the province has eight students in a radiation therapy training program in Toronto who are expected to work in Newfoundland and Labrador after they graduate.

"We are succession planning and preparing for the future," she said.

Earle said financial compensation is not the only factor in a health professional's decision to come and stay in N.L. but it's often an important one.

He said radiation therapists can make as much as $20,000 more annually in Nova Scotia, and even more money farther west.

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