Cancer survival better in private care
Bowel cancer patients treated in private hospitals have a better chance of survival than those cared for in the public system, a study has found.

Superior surgery and improved access to chemotherapy were probably responsible for their brighter outcomes, according to the Western Australian research.

The team concluded if this was the case, then it "raises serious concerns regarding equity and access to treatment".

Researchers analysed data collected from all West Australians with colon or rectal cancer who sought treatment between 1993 and 2003, to see how they fared.

They found men, younger patients, and those in an earlier stage of disease had the best survival rates - but the type of hospital was an even stronger indicator.

Of the quarter treated privately, about 60 per cent were still alive five years later. Public hospital patients had a poorer rate of 48 per cent.

"This finding may reflect improved standards of surgery (in the private setting)," the researchers wrote in the latest Medical Journal of Australia.

"There was also increased access to chemotherapy in private hospitals."

Professor Cameron Platell, from the University of Western Australia's school of surgery and pathology, said chemotherapy was widely accepted as a standard treatment for patients in the advanced third stage of the disease.

However, only 45 per cent of these public patients were getting it, compared with 67 per cent of private patients.

"This low rate of compliance with accepted clinical standards is a point of significant concern," they wrote.

The researchers found their results, collected from 5,800 people, were true even when they took into account other important influences like the patient's age and stage of their disease.

But they were not able to adjust for other factors, like the patient's fitness, which could affect their outcome.

Cancer Council Australia chief executive Professor Ian Olver, said the results were surprising and must be investigated further.

"This is one state but it's worth looking at more widely to see if there really is a difference in the standard of care," Prof Olver said.

He believed chemotherapy rates had probably improved in the four years since the study was completed.