Tasmania has secured additional Commonwealth funding to deliver 1000 more breast screens for women aged between 70-74.
Last year the Commonwealth Government provided $1.63 million over three years to Tasmania to carry out additional screenings necessary due to the target age range for breast screening being expanded to include women aged 70-74.
The Commonwealth recently sought proposals for further funding to carry out more breast screens for women aged 70-74. Tasmania successfully applied for $191,000 to deliver another 1000 screenings.
Regular breast screens are extremely important for women in the target 50-74 age range and it is very pleasing that Tasmania’s application to provide an additional 1000 screenings has been successful.
This is a fantastic result for women’s health in Tasmania and we thank the Commonwealth for its ongoing positive partnership on this issue.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer and one of the leading causes of death for women in Australia. By carrying out a further 1000 screenings we can make a real difference in the detection and successful treatment of breast cancer.
That’s also why the Hodgman Liberal Government is investing significantly in additional capacity for BreastScreen Tasmania.
We have delivered additional funding for a new Mobile Screening Unit, which will primarily service the North-West, as well as refurbishment of the existing unit. Together, these investments will help BreastScreen Tasmania deliver an additional 9000 appointments across the state over four years.
St Marys and Bicheno have also been returned to this year’s Mobile Screening Unit schedule after they were removed by the Labor Health Minister in 2013. The mobile unit is in St Marys this week.
