Cancer patients in Melbourne’s booming western suburbs are being forced to clock up thousands of kilometres and spend hundreds of dollars just to access daily lifesaving treatment.

Doctors, patients, and health leaders have launched a Better Cancer Care campaign demanding both major parties commit to a new public radiation therapy facility at or near Werribee Mercy Public Hospital ahead of the November state election.

There are no publicly owned and operated radiotherapy facilities across Werribee, Tarneit, Point Cook, Melton, and Lara, with cancer patients forced undergo gruelling 50 to 100km daily round trips to Sunshine, Parkville, or Geelong.

When 67-year-old Werribee resident Geoff Beams was diagnosed with skin cancer near his eye, he knew a difficult journey lay ahead.

But after multiple procedures failed to remove the cancer, radiation therapy became his only option.

What Mr Beams did not anticipate was that the hardest part of his treatment would not be the procedure itself, but the journey required to reach it.

Referred to an oncologist in Waurn Ponds, the retiree was prescribed 25 radiation therapy sessions spanning five consecutive weeks.

Every day he faced an hour-and-a-half drive each way just to reach the clinic.

Over five weeks, Geoff logged more than 3000km in his car, bearing heavy travel costs and time stress during a period when his body desperately needed rest.

“A cancer diagnosis is hard enough. For me, undergoing treatment was relatively easy. Getting to and from the treatment centre was the hard part,” he said.

“The travel wears you down, and it created a significant burden, reducing the time for rest and recovery, and precious time with family.

“If there was public radiation therapy close to home in Werribee, that time would go back to resting and being with family.”

Veteran western suburbs GP Mukesh Haikerwal said healthcare infrastructure had failed to keep pace with the explosive growth in the west.

“In 1991, when I started getting involved in healthcare planning, we had a population of just under 80,000. Now the population is heading towards 550,000, and the facilities have not followed,” Dr Haikerwal said.

“Evidence shows one in two people diagnosed with cancer should receive radiotherapy, but only about one in three gets it. We need to give people a fair go and a fair chance at the best outcome.”

He said there were the means and technology to diagnose patients early and to treat patients but there was gap in accessibility.

The Better Cancer Care campaign spokeswoman and secretary of the Western Public Radiation Therapy Network, Dr Navdeep Kaur, said distance was a recognised barrier to treatment.

“Cancer care should not depend on your postcode. Evidence shows the further people live

from radiation therapy, the less likely they are to receive it,” she said.