Report of a European survey on the implementation of breast units : ECIBC-supporting information for breast cancer care policies and initiatives

The 4th edition of the European guidelines for quality assurance in breast cancer screening and diagnosis, issued in 2006, included a chapter providing indications for a model centralising breast cancer care in the so-called breast units and requirements for those units. Ten years after issuing that model and following-up the European Parliament (EP) resolution of 2006 on breast cancer in the enlarged European Union (which called on Member States to ensure nationwide provision of interdisciplinary breast units by 2016 and on the Commission to deliver a progress report on this every two years), the survey described in this report was envisaged to provide up-to-date information on how and where these requirements have been implemented across Europe. The aim of the report is to factually describe the implementation status of each requirement across Europe based on the results of the survey. No appraisal regarding the level or quality of care provided in each country is implied. The obtained results will also be used to inform the development and implementation of the voluntary European Quality Assurance scheme for Breast Cancer Services (the European QA scheme), one of the main pillars of the ECIBC.