Page 4969 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 26 October 2011
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With regard to the contents of Dr Bourke’s motion, my office spoke to Bosom Buddies and they expressed some concern that one of the statistics reported in section (1)(c) of the motion was not correct, in that, according to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, it is estimated that nationally, nearly 200,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer and more than 40,000 die each year.
A representative from Bosom Buddies indicated to my office that according to the Australian National Breast Cancer Foundation 14,204 women in Australia are predicted to be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011, and in 2015, 15,400 women are projected to be diagnosed with breast cancer, an average of 42 women every day. While this is not an insignificant sum, it is not quite 200,000. Bosom Buddies also advised that each year in the ACT region, more than 350 women undergo surgical treatment and that at any point in time more than 2,000 women are in post-surgical treatment
For unknown reasons, the ACT is reported to have a rate of breast cancer even higher than the national average, with one out of 10 women diagnosed in their lifetime. This may be due to the fact that we are a more highly educated population in the ACT and also because of our high rates of detection.
Other statistics are available through the Australian National Breast Cancer Foundation. They show that one in nine women will develop breast cancer in their lifetime; women diagnosed with breast cancer have an 88 per cent chance of surviving five years after diagnosis; and improvements and survival are attributed to early detection of breast cancer through population-based mammography screening and improved treatment outcomes for breast cancer.
Increasing age is now seen as one of the strongest risk factors for developing breast cancer. About three out of four breast cancer cases occur in women aged 50 years and older. Last year, when Ms Porter moved a motion on this issue, I was able to raise a number of concerns about services on behalf of women who have or have had breast cancer. These concerns included the workload of the breast cancer nurses; the lack of services available for women with lymphoedema; the availability of bio-impedence, a method of early diagnosis; and the disproportionate impact breast cancer can have on women from poor socioeconomic backgrounds.
I have to say that there has not been a great deal of change to improve these concerns. Bosom Buddies have advised that breast cancer nurses are carrying increasing workloads and more attention is needed to ensure that there are always three breast cancer nurses working at any one time. The issue of funding for the nurses is an ongoing concern.
With regard to lymphoedema, there is increasing demand for support from the lymphoedema clinic at Calvary hospital and more staff are needed to provide this vitally important function to the many breast cancer patients who experience lymphoedema after losing lymph nodes to cancer. For those who do not know what lymphoedema is, it is the long-term swelling of parts of the body and their chronic inflammation. People with lymphoedema can become very ill with constant infections
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