The Department of Health received notice in recent weeks from Varley Group revising the expected timeframe for delivery of the new Breastscreen bus to February 15 2027, and on the road late February.
Given the importance of this service to our rural and regional areas, this was not an acceptable outcome for the Tasmanian Government or our community.
Accordingly, I have since met with Varley several times and escalated this matter directly to the CEO, who committed to exploring all options to expedite the delivery timeframe as much as possible.
This week Varley advised it will commit additional hours and overtime to complete the project, at no cost to the Government, with the bus to now arrive in Tasmania by 20 January 2027, and be in the community by the first week of February.
While I remain extremely disappointed the December timeframe could not be met, I am satisfied that Varley is doing all it can to complete the build as quickly as possible, and I thank the CEO for working constructively with us to ensure this.
An itinerary for the new bus will be released in coming weeks, and Breastscreen Tasmania will reach out to eligible Tasmanians in relevant areas to encourage early booking.
In the meantime, the BreastScreen Tasmania Client Travel Subsidy remains available to ensure Tasmanians can access breast screening services, as well as other community transport arrangements.
The Department of Health is also working on procurement for a third mobile screening unit, which appropriately recognises that this situation cannot occur again.
