National upgrade for breast screening services
Australian women are more likely to have breast cancer detected with new state-of-the-art equipment being introduced at BreastScreen Australia services – part of a $120 million national upgrade funded by the Rudd Government.
Thirteen priority projects totalling $10 million will receive funding this financial year.
BreastScreen Australia invites women aged from 50 to 69 years to have free two-yearly screens for breast cancer. The program has proven highly successful. Since its inception, it has been responsible for a 21-28% fall in the number of deaths due to breast cancer.
While BreastScreen Australia is jointly funded by the Commonwealth and the state and territory governments, the Rudd Government provided a one-off capital injection in this year’s federal budget to enable services in all locations to move to the latest technology.
As well as providing new mammography equipment, the digital upgrade program will enable electronic transfer of mammography images between services. This will help reduce the time taken for images to be sent from remote locations to major cities for analysis.
Radiologists will also be able for the first time to electronically manipulate and magnify the mammography images.
To further assist women with breast cancer, the Government provided a grant of $12 million over four years to the McGrath Foundation to recruit and train 44 breast care nurses, almost 90% of whom are located in regional and remote Australia.
The breast care nurses – all of whom are now in place – will enable more women diagnosed with breast cancer to receive support from a nurse with specialist breast care skills and training.
