New BreastScreen Aotearoa clinic opens in Auckland

A new BreastScreen Aotearoa (BSA) clinic has opened, to provide screening for 67,000 women in central Auckland.

The new clinic is located at 308 Great South Road, Greenlane (next to Countdown) and the service is being provided jointly by Auckland and Waitematā DHBs.

The new facility was recently opened by Associate Minister of Health Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall and was featured on TVNZ news. The DHBs’ media release can be found on the Waitematā DHB website.

Prior to the new clinic opening, women aged 45 to 69 had their free breast screening at the St Mark’s Road clinic in Remuera. When the St Marks group gave notice it would be ending its contract, the rush was on to find a new provider so that screening services could continue for the women of central Auckland. 

Deborah Woodley, Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Health’s Population Health and Prevention Directorate, says BreastScreen Aotearoa has done a tremendous job of standing up a brand new clinic in a few short months.

‘This is an example of how nimble we can be when the pressure is on. Breast screening is a valuable service that saves lives and we wanted to ensure we avoided any prolonged gaps in our service delivery.

‘Setting up a new clinic from scratch is a huge undertaking. A new provider had to be found, a suitable location identified and fitted out with specialist equipment, and staff recruited. This was done with the minimum of fuss in about six months by a very competent project team and clinical governance group. I would like to congratulate BreastScreen Auckland Central Programme Manager Moira McLeod and Clinical Director Dr Jenny Walker, and the teams at Waitematā and Auckland DHBs, ably supported by BSA Manager Maree Pierce and her staff, for so seamlessly making this happen.’

The new service, which Ngāti Whātua has gifted the name of Kia Ū Ora, has a whānau room to provide space for women and their supporters and to make the service more welcoming to wahine Māori and Pacific women who have a higher incidence of breast cancer.

More information for women transitioning to the new service can be found on the Time to Screen website.