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An image from breast screening - Source: ONE News -
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Thousands of rural women who are missing their two-yearly breast screenings are due to benefit from new state of the art technology.
New Zealand's first digital mobile screening unit has hit the road, north of Auckland.
It is a medical procedure women over 45 are supposed to have every two years but Mangawhai mum-of-three Janet McDougall is one of many women who say it is not easy when you live in the country.
"Our lives get a little bit busier and we have to travel further obviously ... so you tend to just put (the screening) off," says McDougall.
But for the 100,000 women living in the Northland region, getting a breast screening just got easier with the launch of the country's first mobile unit to use digital technology worht $700,000.
Programme co-ordinator Moira McLeod says the new unit uses state of the art technology.
Radiographer Brendawyn Leeves says previously they had to process film and a cassette which took about three days. And if there was blurring or other problems with the picture quality the women would have to be called back for a second screening.
Women in rural areas often would not make the second trip.
The new digital technology processes the picture within seconds and beams it back to radiologists in Auckland via a satellite on the roof of the truck. It has cut down on screening time, meaning 30% more Northland women can now be tested - around 1,800 a year.
"Anything that increases capacity and the ability to take this service to the women is a step forward in the right direction," says McLeod.
Other district health boards are watching closely and if it is successful in Northland the technology will be rolled out nationwide.
