Breastscreen Victoria On A Mission To Screen LGBTI Community With ‘Rainbow Rose'

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Following a successful pilot in late 2019, BreastScreen Victoria is holding regular, additional LGBTI community screening sessions in 2020.

In March 2019, BreastScreen Victoria became the first screening program in Australia to be recognised by Rainbow Tick, the national accreditation program for safe and inclusive practice, and service delivery for LGBTI people.

The community screening sessions, called ‘Rainbow Rose’, are held at the organisation’s Rose Clinic, located in David Jones’ in Melbourne’s CBD.

BreastScreen Victoria research found that barriers to participation for the LGBTI community included: previous experiences of discrimination in healthcare, lack of representation in promotional materials, staff lack of knowledge, and fear that they may have to ‘come out’ in the process. Additionally, trans and gender diverse (TGD) people identified: transphobia, fear of being misgendered, not knowing about screening, embarrassment and fear of the test causing dysphoria/anxiety.

BreastScreen Victoria CEO, Vicki Pridmore said, “We understand that sexuality and gender diverse people are under-screened for breast cancer, and experience unique barriers to participating in screening. “Through continuous quality improvement and our work with the community, we can ensure that everyone is treated with the same dignity and respect.”

BreastScreen Victoria invites people aged 50 to 74 to have a free mammogram every two years. Appointments are free, generally take ten minutes, are conducted by a woman, and don’t require a GP referral or Medicare card.

More than 75% of breast cancers occur in women over 50 and regular breast screens are the best way to find breast cancer early.

For information about screening and eligibility please see BSV’s Screening FAQ for LGBTI people and our Breast/chest screening for trans and gender diverse people fact sheet, both available on their website.