Breast Screening in Oamaru

Since October 2024, and for the first time, WellSouth now has the contract from Christchurch-based ScreenSouth Limited, that administers BreastScreen Aotearoa Services through BreastScreen South and BreastScreen Otago Southland, the national breast screening programmes for Te Waipounamu. The agreement with WellSouth also specifies improving breast screening access and outcomes for Māori and Pacific Island women within the Southern region to address the equity gap in screening coverage. 

Each year approximately 3,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in Aotearoa, with Māori and Pacific Island women experiencing the highest rates of cancer. As part of this agreement, around 570 women in Otago and Southland have been identified as needing support to access BreastScreen Aotearoa (BSA) mammograms. Not only Māori and Pasifika, but also rural women who find it much harder to urban access mammogram clinics.

Breastscreen Aotearoa’s mobile clinic will be travelling across Otago and Southland from January onwards to bring health checks to the community. These are mobile clinic dates:

Oamaru              13th Jan - 28th Feb

Ranfurly             3rd March – 11th March

Clyde                   12th March - 13th June

Balclutha           16th June - 25th July

Gore                     22nd Sept - 12th Nov

Lumsden           13th Nov - 19th Nov

Te Anau               20th Nov - 5th Dec

In Otago and Southland, wāhine Māori and Pacific women are screened around 10% lower than non-Māori and non-Pacific, who are screened at around 69%. In Otago and Southland, around 360 eligible wāhine Māori are ‘enrolled in a PHO’ (therefore in a general practice) but not enrolled in BSA and around 50 Māori women are not enrolled in either a PHO or BSA. For Pacific people, the numbers are smaller; around 110 are not enrolled in BSA but enrolled in a PHO and approximately 60 are not enrolled in either.

Riiti Conway, WellSouth Equity Team Leader Pou Whirinaki says bringing the clinic to communities will help many wāhine prioritise this important check. 

“Ten percent may not sound like a big percentage, but these numbers represent real people – mums, sisters, daughters, aunts. If they have a screening mammogram they are more likely to pick up cancer early. A very quick and free health check every two years can lead to better health outcomes,” she says.

Screening mammography alone won’t prevent breast cancer, but evidence shows that regular screening does help with early detection. Women are offered a free mammography every two years through the BSA programme.

Ms Conway says, “Our Pou Manaaki Community Hub Coordinators will be supporting more Māori and Pacific wāhine to enrol and participate in the screening programme, by giving women a call to talk with them about screening, offer to book their appointments and assist with getting to them. This personal support and having the mobile clinic visiting towns will make it less daunting and less time-consuming to get the check.

“We will also work with partners to promote and encourage culturally appropriate services, or improved resources to reduce barriers to access or communication,” says Ms Conway.

“For us, it’s about making it easier to go and get a mammogram, while also upholding the cultural integrity of participants,” she says.

Facts from BreastScreen Otago Southland

• Wāhine Māori and Pacific Island women have a significantly higher breast cancer incidence and mortality compared to non-Māori and are almost twice as likely to die from breast cancer as non-Māori.
• The aim of breast screening is to find very small cancers before a lump can be felt in the breast. Early treatment has the best chance of success.
• Breast cancer is the most common cancer in New Zealand women.
• While screening mammography cannot prevent breast cancer, international evidence shows that mammography, when delivered through an organised screening programme, can reduce mortality from breast cancer.
• The risk of breast cancer increases as you get older. Three-quarters of women who get it are over 50.

To be eligible

• Be aged 45 to 69 years of age (noting that the age range is likely to change to include participants up to 74 years of age in late 2025)
• Have not had mammography within the previous 12 months
• Not be pregnant or breastfeeding
• Be free from breast cancer. If previously diagnosed with breast cancer, be at least five years post-diagnosis
• Be asymptomatic
• Be eligible for public health services in Aotearoa New Zealand.