BREAST SCREENING

Dr McFETRIDGE (Morphett) (15:03): My question is to the Minister for Health. Following the discovery of diagnostic errors in the breast screening process, is the minister aware of how many women have been diagnosed with breast cancer who were undiagnosed in their initial scans?

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING (Playford—Minister for Health and Ageing, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister for Defence Industries, Minister for Veterans' Affairs) (15:03): I do not have those numbers to hand, but it was always the case—and the previous minister for health made it quite clear at the time—that when you are going back through the 50,000-odd scans, it was always the case that it was expected that there would be women who would need to go back for further testing who had not been asked to go back for further testing before. My advice from the department is that the numbers of women who are having to be contacted to go back for further testing is consistent with what was expected at the beginning of this process.