Publications

Quality Improvement Review of Clinical Quality and Safety for Breast Screening Aotearoa

May, 2023

The Quality Improvement Review of the national breast screening programme, BreastScreen Aotearoa (BSA) was commissioned by the Chief Executive of Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand in May 2022. Conducted by a panel independent of the National Screening Unit, it assesses whether the arrangements for clinical safety and quality for the BSA programme are fit for achieving the objectives of the programme. This includes determining whether the arrangements have been put into operation equitably and effectively and providing recommendations for change or improvement.

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BreastScreen Aotearoa Workforce Development Strategy 2022 – 2032

October, 2022

The Workforce Development Strategy was commissioned to determine ways to address workforce demand and supply. Key actions to address workforce issues are outlined in five areas, including strengthening diversity and inclusive practices across the workforce; developing recruitment and retention strategies; building flexible and sustainable career pathways; the workforce of the future; and building governance and enablers to drive change.

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Impact analysis: Extending BreastScreen Aotearoa to include women aged 70-74 years

May, 2019

This analysis provides a summary of the potential impacts of extending the age range for the national breast screening programme, BreastScreen Aotearoa, to include women up to age 74. The analysis uses modelling and what we know about breast cancer and breast screening to provide a high-level summary of the impacts of a potential age extension on women, screening and treatment providers and the wider health sector. One of its aims is to help shape changes to the existing programme to provide the most benefit for New Zealanders.

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Interval cancers in BreastScreen Aotearoa 2008-2009

February, 2018

This report presents analysis of interval cancers from the BreastScreen Aotearoa (BSA) programme. Interval cancers are those diagnosed between a normal screening result and the next scheduled screen (in BSA this interval is two years). The report covers 2008–2009 screens and makes comparisons to previously published BSA data and international results.

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Cohort and Case Control Analyses of Breast Cancer Mortality: BreastScreen Aotearoa 1999-2011

December, 2015

This major new study confirms that New Zealand’s organised breast screening programme, BreastScreen Aotearoa (BSA) is reducing deaths from breast cancer. The study concludes that for women who have ever been screened by BSA, the rate of death from breast cancer is reduced by a third, compared to women never screened by the programme. The findings of this study are in line with mortality studies of breast screening programmes internationally.

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Cohort and Case Control Analyses of Breast Cancer Mortality: BreastScreen Aotearoa 1999-2011 (pdf, 1 MB)

A summary of the BreastScreen Aotearoa Mortality Evaluation 1999–2011

December, 2015

This document provides an overview of the recently published BreastScreen Aotearoa (BSA) mortality evaluation, which assessed the impact of New Zealand’s breast screening programme from 1999 to 2011 on breast cancer mortality.

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A summary of the BreastScreen Aotearoa Mortality Evaluation 1999–2011 (pdf, 481 KB)

Interval cancers in BreastScreen Aotearoa 1999-2007

June, 2012

The purpose of this report is to present information on 2 year interval breast cancers from the BreastScreen Aotearoa (BSA) mammographic screening programme and to compare this with published results from other services.