A NEW breast cancer screening suite at Frankston Hospital has been named in memory of Peta Murphy.
Last December, Dunkley MP Peta Murphy died of metastatic breast cancer. She was first diagnosed in 2011, then re-diagnosed in 2019.
On Saturday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan visited Frankston Hospital to unveil the “Peta Murphy Breast Imaging Suite”. Around 2400 mammograms a year are expected to take place at the suite.
That day, Albanese also announced that the federal government would spend $1.5 million to “accelerate the collection of cancer stage and recurrence data in Australia”. Money will be directed to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare to establish the Australian Cancer Data Alliance. Part of the funding will also be spent on jurisdictional population-based cancer registries.
Albanese said “even in what turned out to be the final week of the late Peta Murphy’s life, she travelled to Parliament to help launch a new report with Breast Cancer Network Australia calling for a national picture of metastatic cancers. Today, we are announcing a $1.5 million investment to better track cancer stages and recurrence data – because the more we know, the better we can help.”
“Having this information in one place will make our screening and testing processes better to make sure we’re putting resources where it’s needed most,” he said.