Much of the treatment for cancer patients is performed in Orange or in Sydney.

Dubbo this week missed out on having a specialist prostate cancer nurse. 

This loss ripples out to all the small towns in the region.

The national Prostate Cancer Specialist Nursing Program provided 14 such nurses to the regions. 

The nurse for this region will be in Orange.

The local support group for patients was rightly disappointed that Dubbo is continually overlooked for services.

Facilitator John Allen said it was unfair. 

Dubbo needed a nurse or at least one that could travel here.

 A nurse could support patients when doctors were not available.

He pointed out there were 21 per cent more prostate cancer-related deaths among rural patients than those in metro areas.

But, the issue is wider than missing out on the opportunity for one specialist nurse. 

It is about distances, costs, separation from family, long periods away of treatment and many other issues connected with having to travel for treatment for all types of cancer.

Then there is the fact that the financial support given to these seriously ill people for travel and accommodation in other centres is small.

Government centralisation of services, health budgets and cost cuts are about money. Treatment is about lives.

Dubbo needs to become a fully-fledged health hub.