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Samples of a colon biopsy to be sent to a laboratory.
Photo: A. BENOIST / BSIP
A scathing article in the
New Zealand Medical Journal a fortnight ago accused the Ministry of Health of allowing the DHB into the national bowel screening programme before it was ready.
Its authors, Professor Brian Cox and Dr Phil Bagshaw, claimed lives had been lost or shortened as a result of Southern DHB being unable to meet the existing need for colonoscopies when it joined the programme in 2018.
They said patients on the programme got priority over those already suffering cancer symptoms.
The pair now want a public inquiry, similar to that of the Cartwright Inquiry in the late 1980s.
On what would have been Blair Vining's 41st birthday, his daughters got their first tour of the building that will become the charity hospital he campaigned for.