Breakthrough CAN member keeping up-to-date on the latest in breast cancer screening and treatment

On 11 June 2008 Breakthrough CAN member Ursula Van Mann attended the ‘Association of Breast Surgeons at the British Association of Surgical Oncology’ Conference.

The Association of Breast Surgeons at the British Association of Surgical Oncology (ABS at BASO) aims to achieve a better outlook for women affected by breast disease through education, training, service improvement and provision of information.  Over the past 30 years, ABS at BASO has worked to improve surgery and standards of care for people with breast cancer and many of their proposals have been adopted internationally. Along with the other Specialist Surgical Societies, ABS at BASO has promoted the specialisation of UK surgeons to ensure that patients see surgeons with a special interest in their disease.

Ursula Van Mann, a member of the CAN Steering Group and a local campaigner, applied to attend the conference as the topics covered were of great interest to her and she hoped that attending the conference would inform her campaigning activities. Talking about what she hoped to get out of the conference Ursula said:

“I wanted a deeper insight into the issues relating to the NHS Breast Screening Programme. Now and then you hear comments made by professionals which suggest that breast screening doesn’t work and I wanted to hear the evidence myself.”

After attending the conference Ursula was pleased to report that breast screening does work and is hugely important to saving lives:

“I learnt that breast screening does indeed work and saves over 1400 lives a year, that survival rates have greatly improved, that treatments are more effective and that scanning and diagnostic interventions are much more sophisticated. The one thing which really surprised me, was how much standards of treatment across the country had been driven up as a direct result of the screening programme.”

Having this knowledge added strength to Ursula’s local campaigning activities on the provision and take-up of screening in her local area, specifically in understanding the challenges faced by the NHS Breast Screening Programme in extending screening to all women aged 47-73 by 2012.

Ursula would strongly recommend conferences such as the Association of Breast Surgeons to other Breakthrough CAN members:

“This is a national conference for breast cancer specialists and is an ideal opportunity to ‘enter their world’. The information is both informative and fascinating, you never know who you may be able to influence.  You come away feeling positive about the advances in treatments and the attitudes of the health professionals.”

New opportunities for Breakthrough CAN members to attend conferences such as this are coming up all the time, if you’re be interested in attending one visit the CAN News page and look out for articles in the monthly CAN e-newsletter or The Advocate.