‘It’s not OK’: Regina woman waits months for breast cancer biopsy

Imagine discovering a lump that continues to grow while waiting months for medical testing to determine if it is cancerous.

That stressful anticipation is the reality for Lindsay Rogers, a 35-year-old Regina woman with a family history of breast cancer.

After waiting two months for an ultrasound appointment, she has waited another three months and counting for a biopsy appointment to determine if she has cancer.

“From watching my mom go through it, and now myself having all this waiting, you don’t realize how rough it is until it’s your turn,” said Rogers.

She found a lump in her breast in April. On June 15, her doctor referred her to an ultrasound clinic after confirming a lump in each breast.

After weeks of waiting, Rogers asked her doctor to follow up with the clinic, learning she was stuck in the queue due to a paperwork backlog.

By late August, she had her ultrasound results. The next step required a biopsy referral from her doctor, but she is still waiting for an appointment and likely won’t receive one until the end of November.

Listen to Lindsay Rogers on Behind the Headlines:

Meanwhile, her doctor confirmed the lump had grown.

“It’s exhausting. I feel defeated. I keep trying, I keep pushing and am I really getting anywhere? Why do I have to try this hard when I live in a place of freedom like Canada?” she said.

She is not alone in this struggle – 980 CJME has confirmed similar stories from other sources facing the same battle of long wait times.

“I like to think I’m a very strong person. But the fact that I’m cracking, it makes it even harder to think about all the other people who aren’t strong — especially the people who have already been through this. Like, how can they be?” she asked.

“How can we be putting people through the mental drainage of this? … It’s not OK.”

System under pressure

The Saskatchewan Health Authority said in an unattributed statement provided to 980 CJME that these backlogs stem from the COVID-19 pandemic when breast cancer screening was on hold. The delays continued when patients declined appointments throughout the pandemic once screening resumed.

“As a result, by early 2022, there was an increase in demand for screening mammography services,” the statement read.

Retaining specialized staff like breast radiologists who provide ultrasound and biopsy services is also challenging.

To combat these issues, the SHA said it extended service hours, approved overtime and used temporary workers to fill positions.

“Work to recruit these specialized technologists is an important part of the human resources plan of SHA’s Department of Medical Imaging and is a priority with ongoing SHA and Government of Saskatchewan recruitment efforts,” the statement read.

The statement said the SHA strives to provide biopsies for the most urgent patients within three weeks. For less urgent cases, patients will wait six weeks.

One week after responding to 980 CJME, the SHA sent the identical statement to Rogers as an explanation for the delays.

Wait times for breast cancer biopsies are rising in Saskatchewan. Lindsay Rogers says the lump discovered in her breast in June continues to grow as she waits for an appointment. (AP Photo/Franka Bruns, File)

A look at the numbers

In 2018, the provincial auditor found that patients waited an average of 12.1 days for biopsy results in Saskatoon and 18.7 days in Regina.

Those numbers had improved marginally by 2022, with patients waiting 9.1 days for results in Saskatoon and 12.9 days in Regina.

The 2018 audit said Saskatchewan patients should wait no more than five business days for standard biopsy results — nine business days for more complex cases.

Breast surgical biopsy specimens are classified as priority 1. The recommended turnaround for processing an urgent specimen is less than 48 hours, and a report is required within 24 to 72 hours.

However, these standards are meaningless for patients without a biopsy appointment.

Overtime not the answer

“The government needs to support a public health-care system where health care is publicly funded and delivered. That includes the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency,” said Tracey Sauer, president of the Saskatchewan Government and General Employees’ Union (SGEU).

The SGEU represents cancer agency staff, like nurses, lab technicians and X-ray technicians. Sauer said they feel the same staffing pressures, like burnout, as other health-care workers in the province.

“They’re struggling with the recruitment and the retention just like everyone else,” she said. “They’re working short. Sometimes they’re deciding to leave their full-time position to go to a casual position because they just can’t do it anymore.

“We can’t fault health-care workers for doing that. After all, they are overworked. They experience tremendous stress.”

When asked about the SHA offering more overtime hours to address short staffing, Sauer was not impressed.

“Allowing for more overtime is just burning (employees) out more. They don’t need overtime, they need help,” she said.

Sauer said the government needs to offer competitive wages and reasonable working conditions to recruit and retain staff.

“They should also be increasing the number of training seats in all of the hard-to-recruit positions,” she said.

Sauer said the SGEU will continue to work with health care professionals to provide the best care for Saskatchewan patients, but it isn’t easy.

“Our staff members of SGEU are feeling it. They don’t want to see members of the public going without treatment,” she said.

Rogers wants government officials to start listening to health-care professionals. She wants to see tangible actions and change.

“It’s not just about me. I’m one person. It’s about everyone. Everyone has a son, daughter, aunt, uncle, mom, father, grandparent or friend that has been impacted by cancer,” she said.