Comparisons of accessibility by remoteness
Separating the drive time results by Remoteness Area reveals:
- Most women in each remoteness category live within a 20-minute drive of a screening service open at least every 2 years. However, around 16% of women from Very remote areas (3,500 women) live over 2 hours from a service open at least every 2 years, which likely presents a significant barrier to routine participation in the screening program for these women.
- In Major cities, 96% of women live within a 20-minute drive of a permanent service location. Most women in regional areas would need to drive for over 20 minutes to reach a permanent service, yet even 86% of women from Outer regional areas live within a 2-hour drive of these services. Very few women from remote areas live within a 2-hour drive of a permanent service.
- First Nations women in Very remote areas tend to live in locations that are farther from screening services, in comparison with non-Indigenous women. For example, 26% of First Nations women (2,100 women) live over a 2-hour drive from a service open at least every 2 years, compared with 10% of non-Indigenous women (1,400 women).
Figure 3: The proportion of women, aged 50–74, by drive time to a BreastScreen Australia screening service location, by service frequency, Indigenous status and remoteness
A set of 3 interactive graphs. All 3 are column graphs showing the proportion of women with access to BreastScreen Australia screening service locations by Remoteness Area. The first graph highlights differences by service frequency. The second graph highlights differences by drive time. The third graph highlights differences by Indigenous status. Refer to Table S4 in data tables.