Nunavut government hopes to streamline cancer care in the territory

The Government of Nunavut is trying to streamline how they provide cancer care in the territory by assigning patients to specially-trained doctors in their region. 

It's an effort to better help cancer patients in Nunavut.

Four doctors have been selected for additional training to better provide care to patients with cancer. They will be assigned to cancer patients in the Qikiqtaaluk region starting at the end of the year.

"The patient is going to know who is the doctor looking after them in the territory for the cancer, as well as outside the territory," said Francois de Wet, chief of staff of the Nunavut health department. 

He said that often, doctors treating Nunavut patients down south don't  know who to contact when their patient returns home. 

Nunavut does not have the ability to treat cancer patients in the territory, so all treatment, such as chemotherapy and radiation, happens in hospitals down south.  

"[Now], the physician outside the territory is going to know which doctor they have to contact [in order] to let them know the patient is coming back." 

Creating consistency

Patients in Nunavut currently struggle to find consistency with health-care providers, according to de Wet. Many people will be diagnosed with cancer by a locum doctor in Nunavut, who then leaves. 

De Wet hopes the change will bring more consistent care to Nunavummiut, and make the system easier to navigate. 

"I think we will be able to standardize treatment across the territory," he said. 

Assigning cancer patients to consistently see the same doctors in the north and south came as a recommendation from a 2017 report on the state of cancer care in the territory. 

The report was a joint effort between the Nunavut Government and the University of Ottawa Hospital to to see how services can be improved.  

The program is starting in the Qikiqtaaluk, but will roll out in the Kivalliq and Kitikmeot regions next year.