Cancer care advocates Blair and Melissa Vining are launching an ambitious plan to create a community charity hospital service for Southland.

The Winton family is launching plans to bring healthcare access closer to Southlanders weeks after the Government announced it would establish a nationwide cancer control agency.

A social media post today says the charity hospital concept is meant to provide health services for those who can't access them, be it because they don't qualify for treatment through the public health system, don't have medical insurance, or don't have any other means of paying.

"The initial plan for a Southland community charity hospital service is to firstly provide colonoscopies to Southland patients left languishing on waiting lists. The hope is to then expand the service to include diagnosis and treatment for other conditions," the post says.

A meeting to launch the Vinings' plan is scheduled to take place tonight in Invercargill with Professor Phil Bagshaw, Dame Sue Bagshaw and Carl Shaw from the Canterbury Charity Hospital in attendance.

The Vinings say in their post that Professor Bagshaw had helped to mentor them with the initial plans to get a Southland charity hospital service off the ground.

He also co-authored the recent report commissioned by the Southern District Health Board (DHB) around issues with the health board's endoscopy service.

The report concluded that the Southern DHB area has one of the highest rates of colorectal cancer in New Zealand, one of the highest rates of cancer spreading beyond the bowel at diagnosis, one of the highest emergency surgery rates for bowel cancer, and one of the lowest colonoscopy rates. 

The Vinings say they are looking for potential funders, board members, a building and volunteer medical staff.

Mr Vining is a young Southland father of two who was diagnosed with terminal cancer in October last year. He made a bucket list of things he wanted to achieve before dying, the last of which was a call on the Government to establish an independent national cancer agency in New Zealand.

As part of their advocacy, the Vinings gathered 140,000 signatures on their Government petition advocating for better cancer care in New Zealand.