Breast screening extended by 3000 women in the ACT

More than five years after the BreastScreen Australia evaluation report recommended extending the age of free mammograms from 69 to 74 across the country, the ACT has received funding approval for its share of a $55.7 million Commonwealth package.

BreastScreen Australia now accepts women for free mammograms from the age of 40 and actively targets the 50-69 age bracket. The move will be welcomed by women's and health groups who have argued the need for continued breast cancer vigilance into older age.

For 65-year-old Teresa Luke, women are never too old to get a mammogram.

Ms Luke was 42 when she discovered a lump she assumed was breast cancer. Her own mother was diagnosed with breast cancer at 80 and died two years later.

Ms Luke was lucky her lump was not cancer but she has undergone two-yearly mammograms at ACT Breast Screen ever since.

She was one of the first women treated at the free service, which began operating in Canberra 21 years ago.

“I don’t think any woman is too old to care about breast cancer. I think it is a good thing the government extends the time to 74,” Ms Luke said.

“The earlier you can find it the better the chances you can treat it.”

It is the very message pushed by BreastScreen ACT Director Yvonne Epping, who said breast cancers detected through regular screening were likely to be smaller than those diagnosed outside the program and a high proportion of those breast cancers could be treated through less aggressive surgery and treatment options.

The Commonwealth package – which has already been rolled out in some states – means an additional 220,000 Australian women will be invited to undertake a free mammogram over the next three years with more than 3100 additional mammograms extended to older women in the ACT.

According to Commonwealth projections, the funding will mean that from 2016-17, an estimated additional 600 breast cancers may be detected each year nationally.

Age is the biggest breast cancer risk factor and one in 11 Australian women will be diagnosed with breast cancer before the age of 75.

Since the establishment of BreastScreen Australia in 1991, breast cancer deaths have been reduced by an estimated 25 per cent

The ACT, however, has historically had the highest rate of breast cancer in the nation as well as one of the lowest rate of public screening.

Ms Epping said the funding was vital in allowing BreastScreen ACT to target older women through reminders and regular invitations to attend breast screening.

"Women over 69 have always been welcome to attend the program and we have never charged them. But we have always had to cover those mammogram from within our existing budget. This funding is extremely valuable as it allows us to expand our program to proactively target older women and to remind them of the value of regular mammograms," she said.

"Women are living even longer these days so we believe that, given the incidence of breast cancer increases with age, this initiative is a really logical way to keep women healthier for longer."

To make an appointment at BreastScreen ACT call 132050.