Practice Connect #186

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Cancer Screening

Screening is identifying unrecognised cancer or pre-cancer in a population of people who show NO signs of having that cancer.

Cancer screening is an important way to detect cancer early. If detected early, the cancer may be smaller, less likely to have spread to other parts of the body, and more treatment options may be available, meaning that successful treatment is more likely.

Cancer screening tests are usually targeted at a particular group of people who are at a higher risk of a particular type of cancer, to determine if they need to undergo further testing. Cancer screening tests can also find people with early-stage cancer, who have not yet developed any symptoms.

There are currently three free cancer screening programs available in Australia:

Breast Screening
BreastScreen WA invites women aged 50-74 years to their clinic, for a free mammogram every
second year. A mammogram is a low dose x-ray of the breast tissue which can detect cancers as small as a grain of rice, before they can physically be felt by a patient or doctor. Over 75% of breast cancers occur in women over 50 years of age. Conducting screening tests on women younger than 50 years of age is less accurate because breasts are denser at this age, making signs of cancer hard to detect.

Cervical Screening
The National Cervical Screening Program (NCSP) offers a free Cervical Screening Test (CST) which looks for the presence of high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) in a collected sample. HPV is responsible for almost all cases of cervical cancer. Women and people with a cervix aged 25-74 will
be invited by mail every five years to take part in screening. Even those who have had the HPV vaccine will still need regular cervical screening.

Bowel Screening
The National Bowel Cancer Screening Program (NBCSP) invites eligible Australians aged 50-74 to screen for bowel cancer using a simple test at home called an immunochemical faecal occult blood test (iFOBT). The iFOBT test looks for tiny traces of blood in poo which may (or may not) be a sign of cancer. A bowel cancer screening kit is sent to the home address of eligible Australians every two
years once they turn 50 years old.

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Mandatory reporting to the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR)

It is mandatory for all immunisation providers to report all National Immunisation Program (NIP) vaccines administered to the Australian Immunisation register (AIR).

Mandatory reporting also includes influenza and COVID-19 vaccines administered.

Immunisation providers who receive and administer other government-funded or private vaccines, should report vaccines administered to ensure individuals have completeness through their AIR immunisation history statement (external site) and their health can be managed
effectively. 

New immunisation providers can find more information on Immunisation provider information and resources.

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Pharmacy immunisation expansion program

From 1 January 2024, the Commonwealth Government implemented the National Immunisation Program Vaccinations in Pharmacy (NIPVIP) program in Australia.

Community pharmacies participating in the program will be able to administer National Immunisation Program (NIP) vaccines at no cost to consumers.

This program will not cover the costs of state-funded or private vaccines. Pharmacists cannot charge for the cost of a state-funded vaccine.

Community pharmacists will now be able to support the wider immunisation program in Western Australia (WA) by providing vaccinations to eligible cohorts, thus increasing access to vaccination for the WA community.