United Voice News
LHMU - the union representing Queensland’s 1,800 radiographers - says a new study showing breast cancer is on the rise is further proof the Queensland Government should invest more resources in BreastScreen Australia.
The union has been lobbying Government to improve access to BreastScreen, launching the ‘Who’s Handling Your Breast's?’ campaign last week to address state-wide radiographer shortages.
“We’re concerned that a shortage of radiographers will cripple mammography services across the state, leaving more cancers to go undetected and more women to die from the disease,” LHMU Health Coordinator Jenelle Head said.
Ms Head said the Government was looking at implementing a recent recommendation from the BreastScreen Australia Evaluation Report that the service only be accessible to women aged between 45 and 75.
“Unfortunately, breast cancer doesn’t understand age restrictions,” she said.
“Women aged under 45 and over 75 will be at risk if they can’t access an affordable mammogram.”
The study, released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and the National Breast and Ovarian Cancer Centre, showed that 12,614 Australian women were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006, up from 5289 in 1982.
According to its findings, much of the increase can be put down to a growing and ageing population – but also because women are now more likely to have breast screens, which is boosting detection levels.
“What we’re seeing now is more women having breast screens, more cancers being detected and a much higher survival rate as a result,” Ms Head said.
“However, if the Queensland Government doesn’t move now to boost radiography numbers across the state, we’ll see services start to drop away again and the consequences of that could be dire.
“At the moment, we’re only screening about 56 percent of the target population for breast cancer. The Union would like to see that go up to at least 70 percent – not drop away further.”
