Push is on to fight breast screening cut
Reported October 15, 2009
A new push to fight Queensland government plans to limit access to breast screening services will be launched on the Gold Coast on Thursday.
The campaign, “Who’s Handling Your Breasts”, is being led by the Liquor Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union, one of Australia’s largest unions.
Union health and aged care coordinator Jenelle Head says breast screening services are delivered to more than a quarter of a million Queensland women annually but demand for the service will not be met because of a shortage of radiographers.
“The tragic outcome of this is that breast cancer will go undetected and women may die as a result,” Ms Head said.
“The LHMU is extremely concerned that Queensland Health, which manages the service in Queensland, has done little to address the radiographer shortage.”
The union, which represents more than 1,800 radiographers throughout Queensland, says successive state and federal governments have failed to address the issue for several years.
“Women from certain age groups will be at risk due to a recommendation from the BreastScreen Australia Evaluation Report that suggests they be barred from having a free mammogram,” Ms Head said.
“They have to be in a certain age window – the report recommends screening no longer be made available to women under 45 or over 75.
“That would mean if you’re younger or older than that you can’t get a breast screen through the service because they just don’t have enough radiographers.
“At the moment we can only screen 56 per cent of the target population and we should be closer to 70 per cent.”
Source : AAP