Published on January 19, 2009 at 8:02 PM
A retail and healthcare combo service is now available to women in New South Wales with the opening of breast cancer clinics in three department stores in Sydney's western suburbs.
The Breast Cancer Institute (BCI) initiative kicks off this week with the opening of the first breast cancer clinic in Myers in Parramatta.
The New South Wales BCI and Myer are trialling the service in four Sydney stores where women will be able to have free mammograms done in the lingerie departments.
The mammograms are immediately transmitted to the BCI Breast Centre at Westmead, where they are read by two doctors and NSW assistant Health Minister Jodi McKay says it will make having a mammogram more accessible by combining retail and health service delivery and is designed to make the check-up process less intimidating for women.
Ms McKay says women, particularly those over 60, need to have a mammogram every two years, and the scheme makes this more accessible and aims to ensure every woman in the area has access to a mammogram.
The clinics will apparently be fitted with the latest digital screening equipment which reduces examination time, improves accuracy, reporting time and image quality and it is expected that one in every 200 women tested will be diagnosed with breast cancer.