The need for care - close to home
Gayle believes all patients should have the chance to be cared for close to home. The 70-year-old feels fortunate to have had her surgery, treatment and follow up care for bowel cancer at Footscray and Sunshine hospitals, but knows there are others who have had to journey far from home.
This includes her late husband, who had to fly from Darwin to Melbourne to have a PET CT scan, when he had cancer and they lived there.
Or her friends, who had to travel long distances by train to have their cancer care in central Melbourne.
"I’m lucky as I’ve had my care at Sunshine and Footscray hospitals and my niece is my carer— the idea of having to travel for a scan just adds so much more stress to an already difficult situation,"
— Gayle said.
“The times that I have needed to go for a scan, you are just so nervous beforehand and it plays on your mind, if you have to travel it just makes it even worse and I saw that with my husband.
"I think everyone should be able to have their care close to home."
— Gayle said.
Gayle said she would love to see Sunshine Hospital secure its own PET CT Scanning Suite, so fewer cancer patients have to travel for imaging.
Positron emission tomography (PET) scans play a crucial role in showing where cancers are located, if they have spread and also used to monitor how patients are responding to treatment.
Every year more the 1,200 cancer patients are forced to leave the west for their cancer diagnosis imaging. Many need to travel for their scans, or use the private sector to get essential diagnostic and treatment care.
Western Health is the fourth largest cancer care service in the state. Demand for cancer care and treatment services are expected to increase by 85 per cent by 2037.