TORONTO - Wait times for chemotherapy in Ontario haven't improved even though the province has more than doubled its spending for the cancer treatment, according to a new report released Thursday.

While radiation and cancer surgery wait times have gone down, chemotherapy wait times remained steady for the past four years, according to the report by Ontario's Cancer Quality Council.

Its annual cancer system quality index found that median wait times for intravenous chemotherapy ranged from 25 to 38 days last year, despite increased demand and volumes. About half of patients waited no more than 33 days to start treatment.

The province spent $176 million last year on chemotherapy, a steep climb from $72 million in 2003.

Part of the reason why wait times haven't improved is that more people are being treated and re-treated with chemotherapy in their lifetime, said Terrence Sullivan, president and CEO of Cancer Care Ontario.

"The good news is, we've managed to absorb a lot more traffic in the existing cancer suites that are serving patients with chemotherapy,'' he said. "The bad news is, we cannot continue to crank up the number of procedures, especially in the major tertiary centres, within Ontario.''

Since demand will continue to increase, the province should expand chemotherapy to a range of community hospitals where the treatment is already available, Sullivan added.

The province covers about 75 per cent of the cost of IV chemotherapy drugs, while hospitals fund the rest, according to the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.

Sullivan suggests changing the funding formula to make it easier for hospitals to "aggressively'' expand their chemo services and hiring more oncologists to drive the programs.

The findings were among the results released today by the council, which monitors and reports on the quality and performance of the province's cancer system.

It also suggests that more Ontarians are jeopardizing their health and increasing the risk of developing cancer by drinking more than they should.

There's been a steady increase in alcohol consumption over the past four years in Ontario, which is a health risk because it's been linked to breast, mouth, liver and colorectal cancers, among others.

The council said 32 per cent of men and 15 per cent of women reported that they're drinking more than recommended by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

The centre's guidelines advise men not to consume more than two drinks per day and women not to consume more than a drink and a half daily, or nine drinks per week.

Between 2000 and 2004, alcohol consumption was linked to 6,200 new cancer cases in Ontario, accounting for two per cent of all new cases, the council noted.