Permanent BreastScreen clinic for Albany to increase potentially life saving early detection

A new permanent BreastScreen WA clinic will open in Albany to give the people living in the region better access to early detection and care.

In a visit to Albany yesterday, Health Minister Roger Cook announced the new clinic would open early next year.

The clinic would replace a mobile facility which has operated for more than 25 years.

Once operational, it is expected to screen 3000 women annually with potential to expand in the future.

Albany MP Peter Watson that the permanent clinic was warranted, given Albany’s growing population. “After 25 years of being serviced by a part-time mobile clinic, I’m delighted that Albany will soon have a permanent breast-screen clinic,” he said. “Women will no longer have to check their calendar and wonder when the clinic is next visiting our town.

“While the mobile clinic has done a magnificent job, the population growth is such that a permanent clinic is needed.”

Mr Cook said each year about 1300 women in WA were diagnosed with breast cancer, and 250 women died of the disease.

“It is vital that women have access as much as possible to clinics near where they live for both early detection and treatment,” he said.