Southland man Blair Vining calls government to account over 'lack of cancer action plan'

Thursday, 31 January 2019

The Vining family, of Winton, from left, Melissa, Lilly, Blair, and Della-May.

Blair Vining says if it was not for his persistent wife Melissa he would probably be dead.

The Southlander said it was the stark reality of his situation and was why he was calling the New Zealand government to account over not having a cancer action in place.

Vining was last year diagnosed with terminal cancer and was given six to eight weeks to live without any treatment.

The catch though was that he was advised it would take eight weeks to get his first oncologist appointment.

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Vining did not have eight weeks to wait.

Instead his wife Melissa searched the private sector in a desperate attempt to speed up the process.

He was able to see Dr Chris Jackson in Dunedin and get the treatment process started within three weeks.

'It took 19 phone calls and a very persistent wife. If it wasn't for her, I would have been in the public sector and waiting for eight weeks,' Vining said.

As part of the public health sector he said he overheard doctors talking outside his room about his inoperable status and he also had an infected IV line as procedure wasn't followed through.

Southern DHB chief medical officer, Dr Nigel Millar, plans to talk with Vining about his experience.

'We are concerned to hear of Mr Vining's experience and the concerns about delays in receiving treatment,' Millar said.

'We will be contacting Mr Vining hoping that he will wish to discuss this with us so that we can understand it in detail and respond to him fully.

'We are committed to reaching the target of treating patients with cancer within the expected times. It was fortunate that Mr Vining was able to receive treatment privately from Dr Chris Jackson.'

Earlier this month Vining was advised his treatment was working and he had been given a further three months to live.

His family was using the time to squeeze as much in as possible.

On New Year's Eve Blair and Melissa renewed their wedding vowels, and on January 12 Vining played in a bucket list rugby game at Winton.

Another of Vining's bucket list items was a chance to shine the spotlight on his belief that the New Zealand government lack an action plan for cancer in New Zealand.

Through Vining's doctor Chris Jackson, who the Cancer Society's medical director, Vining and wife Melissa arranged to speak at Thursday's Cancer Care at a Crossroads Conference in Wellington.

The pair both spoke of their tumultuous journey through the health system, which they said had let them down at their time of need, including a 13-hour wait in a hospital emergency department.

'You have failed Blair, you have failed me and my children, and you have failed many other New Zealanders by not having a cancer plan,' Melissa said told health minister David Clark and the gathered crowd of cancer experts at the conference.

Clark followed the pair and promised to do more to improve the systems in place.

Vining however said he was not interested in talk and wanted action now.

He and wife Melissa pointed to Australia which they believed had an action plan in place which looked after people with cancer.