BC Cancer will be ending a program that sends patients to the US for cancer treatment.
According to the BC Government, the program would give eligible patients the chance to get radiation therapy treatment by travelling to two clinics in Bellingham Washington, with the aim of giving patients timely access to treatment while the province was working on building capacity for their own radiation therapy.
The program has been in effect since May 2023, but because delivery of treatment has become faster in the past two years, the province says it led to the decision to end the program.
“As of the end of February 2025, approximately 93 per cent of patients in B.C. were waiting less than four weeks to start their radiation treatment – exceeding the national benchmark of 90 per cent,” said the province.
“This is also a 24 per cent improvement since spring 2023, when only 69 per cent of patients were starting treatment within four weeks.”
They say as wait times have improved, the number of patients travelling to the US clinics has gone down, adding if it were to continue, only 104 patients would use it over the coming year.
The province thanks the clinics for treating the BC patients, with contracts to the clinics set to expire on May 11 and May 31 this year.
In the meantime, they add work is continuing to expand cancer care throughout BC.
– with files from My Kootenay Now staff
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