What we did

We were engaged by the Australian Department of Health to provide secretariat and research services to support the Breast Screen Australia (BSA) program.

How we did it

Our role involved supporting the establishment and operation of a technical reference group focused on providing guidance on the direction, scope and methodology to be used in Department of Health-commissioned research outputs relating to breast cancer screening. We have also been commissioned to undertake several research projects (using the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) guidelines)  including reviewing and updating the 2009 tomosynthesis position statement, a literature review on breast density in mammography, including the development of recommendations for the Department of Health and BSA program managers, and an horizon scan of emerging technology likely to impact the BSA program and breast cancer imaging. Our work has included drafting the Terms of Reference and Search Strategy for the research projects for consideration by the technical reference group when they convene.

Benefits for the client

Our work was well received and has been published on the Department’s website:

BreastScreen Australia – Position statement on the use of tomosynthesis within breast screening

BreastScreen Australia – The future of breast screening

BreastScreen Australia – Breast density literature review

BreastScreen Australia – Understanding informed decision making – a literature review about Australian women’s attitudes to participating in population-based breast screening