New state-of-the-art mobile breast screen service hits the road

15 September 2011

A new mobile bus service fitted with state-of-the-art digital breast cancer screening equipment has started a road trip to small rural communities across Victoria.

The mobile screening service, run by BreastScreen Victoria, includes new digital technology that enables mammography images to be captured more efficiently and be sent to radiologists over a broadband network.

Video transcript

Vicki Pridmore

One in nine Victorian women, or one in nine women full stop, will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime and in this year alone, 3000 Victorian women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and really the aim of the game is to detect cancer early because that's when you've got the best possible chance of a positive outcome.

We are here to see our new fabulous pint new digital van be launched by the Minister for Health David Davis before it continues on its way to Foster. We've installed a brand new hologic digital mammography machine so it can take digital images and transport those throughout the state as opposed to an analogue machine where you actually had to go and use film. The image taking is actually a little quicker so the woman is not in the machine for as long. We can actually send the images anywhere throughout Victoria so we can send them immediately and check that technically it's a good image and if it has to be taken again, and sometimes that happens, we can do that on the spot. We've established a service by where we can send results to GPs throughout the state electronically so there's a whole range of benefits that can occur.

Throughout Victoria we'll do 220,000 women this year. We have 35 fixed clinics and we have 26 mobile clinics throughout rural and regional Victoria. Ringing us on 13 20 50 if they are aged between 50 and 69 and making an appointment for a free breast screen.

David Davis MLC

The bus is the first of its type fitted out with digital equipment and it will travel country Victoria. That's the key task that its got and these vans will make a difference for Victorian women, particularly women who find it hard to access services at a major centre.

The message is it does matter whether you get screened and if you do get screened you've got a chance of detecting any problems at an earlier point. So we want as many women as possible in the target range to be screened, we want as many of them screened with a high quality approach from Breast Screen Victoria with the digital imaging and the new van will make a big difference.

Mary Carboon

My breast cancer was diagnosed 11 years ago and it was from a regular check up in a van like this that we have today. An irregularity was picked up so from then on I had treatment, excellent treatment I might add. Women need to have their regular check ups for their own health and wellbeing, and besides it is a very available service and it's free. No excuses.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in Victorian women with one in nine women developing breast cancer by age 85. In 2009, there were 3,264 Victorian women diagnosed with breast cancer and 698 women died from the disease.

The installation of digital technology in the van is part of a planned, statewide four-year roll out that will be made progressively available to all Victorian women accessing public breast screening services.

The mobile screening service will provide around 7,000 BreastScreen appointments every year for women across rural and regional Victoria.

Thanks to improvements in treatment and early detection, five-year survival rates have increased from 74 per cent in 1990 to 89 per cent in 2005.

BreastScreen Victoria screens more than 210,000 women every year. Women over 40 can access screening for free, with women aged 50 - 69 invited for screening every two years.

Finding breast cancer early offers women the best chance of successful treatment and recovery. A BreastScreen appointment every two years is the best way to find breast cancer early.

Further information

To find out more, visit the BreastScreen Victoria website or call 13 20 50 to make an appointment.