Dear Hawke's Bay District Health Board,

I would like to request the district health board minutes and documents dating back as far as 2012 please..

I would also like to request information on How many women are waiting on post mastectomy reconstruction.? Apparently women who have reconstruction at the time of mastectomy are ok, but those for very valid reasons are not able to, have to wait indefinitely and are less likely to go on a waiting list.

Hospital waiting lists will not reflect the real numbers of women who are waiting. As when I wrote the MOH they stated in their letter that they did not hold this information.

I first had a mastectomy and reconstruction on 18 March 2013 and subsequently had to wait three years and five months to have a reduction operation for symmetry. I would have preferred to have had a prophylactic mastectomy and reconstruction of the right breast. As I had met other women who developed breast cancer in their other breast and now it was too late.

I think women should have the right to choose what is the best possible outcome for their health and that this option in not only available for those with medical insurance.

How many women are waiting for prophylactic contralateral mastectomy?

How many women are waiting for breast reduction for symmetry following a trans flap mastectomy or other preference of reconstruction?

Only the surgeons will know this information and it should be recorded to the MOH each year at present this information is not. General Practice doctors are not the ones that should report this information. It should be the responsibility of surgeons to record this data and send it to the MOH.

Yours faithfully,

Evelyn Lemm
14 Chaucer Road South
Hospital Hill
Napier