Tauranga women who missed their breast screening appointment during lockdown are being urged to take advantage of a mobile breast screening unit in Te Puke.

During Alert Level 4 breast screening services were paused, with BreastScreen Aotearoa reinstating service delivery at Level 3.

A Ministry of Health spokesperson says BSA providers have been actively contacting and rescheduling appointments for women who missed their screening appointments whilst the programme was paused at Level 4.

'This includes strategies specifically focused on engaging priority group women wāhine Māori, Pacific and under-screened in screening services.”

The spokesperson says extra screening sessions are being scheduled by for both fixed and mobile screening unit sites over the coming months.

'This will provide women with greater flexibility to access appointments and will enable more screens to be completed.”

The Western Bay Primary Health Organisation has put a call out to women who are overdue or who have never been screened before to make an appointment.

The mobile breast screening unit will be at the Te Puke Library car park in Jellicoe Street from June 15 to July 3.

The MOH spokesperson says the pause in screening mammogram services is unlikely to impact most women's long-term health outcomes.

'At all alert levels, anyone who had already had a mammogram and was triaged as urgent was offered an assessment appointment as soon as possible.

Te Puke's Dinky Potiki was just 35 years old and breastfeeding her youngest child when she discovered a lump in her breast which turned out to be cancerous.

A radical mastectomy saved her life, but regular breast screening is still essential to ensure the cancer doesn't return.

'My breast cancer diagnosis was a shock. I was breastfeeding my daughter and found a wee lump so I went straight to my GP. That was in October 1994 and by February of the following year I had a radical mastectomy. It was picked up by luck really but the process moved really quickly,” she says.

Dinky, 60, has continued to have breast screening every year since then, so is well used to the 'boob-squashing” process.

For women reluctant to undergo breast screening Dinky has a blunt message.

'I always say ‘what will happen to your children and mokopuna if you die?' It's 30 seconds of discomfort for peace of mind. That's nothing. And the gowns they give you to wear these days are very pretty – no more drab greens and blues.”

The mobile unit visits Te Puke each year as part of BreastScreen Aotearoa, New Zealand's free national programme, under which women aged between 45 and 69 years are eligible for a free mammogram every two years.

To make an appointment, contact your GP or phone: 0800 270 200.