Wellington | 21 April 2026
A new report from Blood Cancer NZ warns New Zealand is failing patients and is falling behind in terms of blood cancer treatment access, system coordination and outcomes, leading to lives being needlessly lost.[AL1.1]
The State of Blood Cancer Report finds around 27,000 New Zealanders are living with blood cancer, more than 3,000 are diagnosed each year, and over 1,000 lose their lives annually. Blood cancer is now the third leading cause of cancer death in New Zealand.
More New Zealanders are diagnosed with blood cancer than melanoma or lung cancer, and more die from it than prostate or breast cancer. Annual deaths have risen by almost 40% since 2008, while mortality has not improved over the past 15 years in the way seen for other major cancers.
In response, Minister of Health Simeon Brown has announced the establishment of a new blood cancer oversight group, which will provide national leadership across blood cancer care, connecting the work on medicines, workforce, services, and future therapies into a more coherent, patient-focused system.
The report is the first comprehensive assessment of blood cancer in New Zealand, bringing together epidemiology, patient experience, system performance and treatment access.
It draws on national data and insights from 744 patients and carers and 85 healthcare professionals, and concludes New Zealand’s health system has not kept pace with modern blood cancer care. Patients are too often left with fewer treatment options, slower access to innovation, and poorer outcomes than those seen overseas.
Blood Cancer NZ Chief Executive Tim Edmonds says the response from Minister Brown is a positive first step and welcomes the focus on delivering change for patients.
“One of the report’s key findings is the need for a nationally coordinated action plan because responsibility is currently spread across multiple parts of the system, resulting in slow and uneven progress. This oversight group is an opportunity for improved planning, funding and delivery, with a focus on accelerating improvements in patient outcomes.”
Blood Cancer NZ says the oversight group needs to move quickly to develop awork programme that addresses access to modern therapies, workforce capacity and infrastructure, clinical trial access and consistent delivery of care.
Unlike many other cancers, blood cancer cannot be prevented or detected through screening, meaning outcomes are unusually dependent on timely diagnosis, specialist care and access to effective treatment. The report says New Zealand has a clear and well-documented gap in access to modern blood cancer therapies compared with similar countries.
Dr Roger Tiedemann, Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Auckland, and Haematologist at Auckland City Hospital, says the gap between what is clinically possible and what patients can access is widening.
“For many blood cancers, access to the right treatment at the right time is the difference between remission, relapse, or losing the chance of cure altogether.”
“What this report shows is that New Zealand clinicians know what best-practice care looks like, but too often cannot offer it. Patients are being treated in a system that still does not reliably provide therapies and pathways that are already standard elsewhere.”
The report also details the wider pressure carried by patients, whānau and the public system. Nearly half of patients report significant out-of-pocket costs, 69% draw on life savings to fund care, and one in seven spends more than $100,000 on unfunded medicines. In 2023, hospital-based blood cancer care cost nearly $209 million, while in 2024 people living with blood cancer accessed more than $56.3 million in social benefits.
Andrew Mackintosh, a blood cancer survivor, says the issue is deeply personal.
“When you are dealing with blood cancer, your whole life is impacted. As well as the medical issues, it affects your family, your finances, your identity and destroys any certainty about the future.”
“This report matters because it shows clearly that things can be better, and that practical change is possible.”
In addition to the oversight group’s establishment, the report sets out several priority areas for action including enabling access to treatment aligned with international best practice; supporting consistent diagnostic and treatment pathways; strengthening access to research and clinical trials; and building workforce and service capacity.
The report’s launch and the announcement by Minister of Health Simeon Brown establishing the blood cancer oversight group took place at an event in parliament in the evening of Tuesday 21 April.
