The Waitemata DHB has apologised for the treatment provided to a bowel cancer patient who later died.

The Health and Disability Commissioner has today released a report into the care of the man.

It's found the patient waited more than four months for hospital investigations for cancer after his GP request specialist assessment.

That was despite him going to the toilet up to 40 times a day.

The man later died in hospice care, aged in his early 50s.

DHB chief medical officer Dr Andrew Brant says the DHB fully accepted the findings.

He says the DHB now provides clarity to patients and their GPs about the expected timeframe in which patients are seen.