SECTION I
INTRODUCTION
Building on the report of the New Brunswick Breast Cancer Screening Committee1 and the restructured hospital system, the Department of Health and Community Services is introducing organized, targeted breast cancer screening services congruent with the following principles:
- providing services consistent with available resources;
- being efficient and effective in supporting the well-being of New Brunswickers;
- implementing/providing selective programming/services that are appropriate to need;
- providing services on an equitable basis;
- adopting a provincial planning framework with decentralized deliver; and
- being results oriented.
PROVINCIAL POLICY ON BREAST CANCER SCREENING
Given the breast cancer incidence and mortality rates in New Brunswick1-2 and the evidence supporting the effectiveness of breast screening for women 50 to 69 years of age3-5, the New Brunswick government has adopted the following policy:
That asymptomatic women aged 50-69 be offered and encouraged to participate in early detection services for breast cancer, consisting of mammography, physical examination of the breasts by a health professional and the teaching and monitoring of breast self-examination every 2 years; and
That the validity of early detection procedures for women outside this age group be determined in consultation with their family physician based on risk factor assessment.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of breast cancer screening is to find cancers of the breast in the earliest possible stages of development. The goal of organized breast cancer screening services is to decrease mortality from breast cancer.
