Breast screening ‘not flatlining’, says expert

As Australia begins Breast Cancer Awareness Month, one national breast screening organisation says Australia is falling ‘dangerously behind’ in breast screening rates, as it challenges new Government data.
 
Published this week by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), the BreastScreen Australia Monitoring Report 2025 shows an increase in women taking part in screening, says the institute.
 
The AIHW reports that more than 1.9 million women in the target 50–74 age group, 52% of the target population, took part in breast screening in 2023–24.
 
This was an increase on the 1.8 million women, or 50%, who took part in 2021–22, it said.
 
Breast Cancer Network Australia (BCNA) has challenged the AIHW data, calling it a ‘marginal rise’ that only reflects population growth and COVID recovery.
 
‘The latest AIHW data reveals participation in BreastScreen has flatlined for more than 20 years,’ said the BCNA in a media statement.
 
However, President of the Australian Society of Breast Physicians and member of RACGP Specific Interests Breast Medicine, Dr Lea Freeman, said as the data refers to the percentage of the target population, it does represent an increase.
 
‘The data says that it’s gone from 50% to 52% of the target population, so it’s not a flatline. It has increased,’ Dr Freeman told newsGP.
 
Dr Freeman said the data also did not take into account the ‘many many’ women having breast screens in the private sector.
 
‘And I don’t think we keep good data on that,’ she said.
 
Dr Freeman said while the national BreastScreen program is ‘not perfect’, having it available to anyone who meets the eligibility criteria is ‘fabulous for our country’.
 
‘Breast screening is fantastic,’ she said. ‘I work at BreastScreen Queensland, I work privately across all the sectors, so I see it from both ends.’
 
‘It’s certainly not available in many other very well-developed countries in the world.’
 
BCNA Director of Policy, Advocacy and Support Services, Vicki Durston, said the national BreastScreen program remained ‘well short’ of the 70% benchmark set by the Australian Government, and below the 80% participation rates of some European countries.
 
‘Screening saves lives but without bold reform, Australia’s breast screening program will remain outdated, fragmented, and well below the benchmark our own Government has set,’ Ms Durston said.
 
The BCNA also takes aim at what it says is ‘a lack of national consistency’ on breast density reporting, and no pathway towards risk-stratified screening.
 
Dr Freeman said while all states are currently moving towards reporting breast density, she would like to see a first mammogram to report breast density, which would then stratify the participant into an appropriate stream accessible through the public system.
 
However, while reporting breast density is important, she said the avenues for next steps are limited, due to a lack of breast radiologists.
 
‘The sticking point with that is, what are women going to do with that information, and who’s going to provide the extra screening that some of the women who have high breast density are recommended to have?’ she said.
 
‘At the moment in Brisbane, you can’t get a breast ultrasound for three months.
 
‘We’re doing better than a lot of people. Nothing is perfect. And certainly as far as the breast density reporting is going, as with all public health, nothing moves at a rate of knots.’

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