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@Zoffiel..can I wear my now completed knitted beanie?

Yep @AllyJay Old women who use coarse language and won't quietly toe the party line must be silenced. Or separated so they don't form a naughty knitter gang and get in the way of progress.

Gawd (probably get a smack for that too) anyone who was around a few years would remember when some of the more robust contributors were regulars. It was just like being out in real society where some people swore or had 'inappropriate' opinions. Imagine that? The mods of the time were a little less inclined to intervene unless someone was getting attacked. The old 'scroll on' mantra was oft repeated.

Anyway, those who were involved with the Great Beacon Battle might need to put their combat knickerbockers back on for a while. New warriors welcome. No thongs or sexy undies, please, we must all pretend to be ladies.

Oooh @Zoffiel...did you get put into the naughty corner ? I got castigated recently too and a comment I made was censored for the exact reasons you stated above. Apparently I breached the code of quote "anything harmful, threatening, abusive, hateful, offensive, discriminatory, defamatory or obscene". There was nary an Anglo Saxon expletive in my comment, it was my previously used analogy of a remaining breast being perceived as being as much a threat as a next door neighbour who was a "you know what" offender. Evidently my highly.... all of the above, comment had to be made soft and fluffy. I told them to remove the whole thing. I seriously wonder if this forum is going to continue, or if it's already on the cards to be scrapped. Perhaps another cost cutting measure... hmmm...save a few bucks on technical support and such...shut up the old biddies who won't just get back to their knitting...?

Looking at the Annual Reviews for the last couple of years, BCNA has gone from being on pretty wobbly financial ground to having a modest surplus. That is commendable. Being at the mercy of non-recurrent funding would be a familiar nightmare for fellow bean counters. Some of the expenditure prior to 2018 was a bit alarming.

Staff and program budgets have been given the sort of pruning I gave my roses this year. Chainsaws at the ready. OK, that has cut well over a million dollars over the last two years 20188-2020 (from the limited info on the website)

I'd be really happy for someone else to check my stats. I don't want to sow disinformation and this stuff is complicated.

I just want to know why the Breast Care Nurses needed to go. Particularly since there is a HR officer job on offer for over $70K. More that would be paid at a regional council for a similar role. I know this

My point, and I think the collective 'ours' is what are the critical functions for those who end up using BCNA?

@Kirsten_BCNA,

Seems to me this is not going to be resolved by private emails between you and individual members. That's just shutting us down as a collective. 

I would suggest a zoom session or something similar where information is shared and questions can be asked.

We are the people supporting the organisation and we are meant to be the beneficiaries too. Why should we support bcna if we aren't getting what we need from bcna? 

Open transparency is what will help and so far with all the questions in the threads above, I do not see any of them answered at all.

I would like to know information such as: what are the top 20 questions in those 9000 calls. I would also like to know what analysis was done to determine what areas if service bcna would be cut? Can the report or a executive summary of the report that killed the services and removed staff that serviced members be shared with us? If not, why not?  What are the types of calls in the last month compared to call types 1 yr ago? 

Hopefully some sort of session can be provided to us rather than sweeping it behind a closed door or private email. Afterall if you read the threads above this lack of transparency has lead to possible misunderstanding and anger at the decision-making. 

Members on the BCNA website it states under advocacy 

'Improved access to specialised breast cancer nurses or cancer care coordinators for people with metastatic disease

• BCNA welcomed the Federal Government’s announcement in January of $27 million for the McGrath Foundation to train 41 additional breast care nurses over the next four years, including 30 nurses dedicated to supporting Australians with metastatic breast cancer.  BCNA and the McGrath Foundation had been lobbying for new government funding to provide more metastatic breast care nurses across the country.

In 2019, BCNA will continue to lobby for increased access to specialised breast care nurses or cancer care coordinators.' 

Seems this decision to remove the breadth care nurses goes directly against this statement. @Kirsten_BCNA can you advise how the decision to remove these nurses is in accordance with BCNA advocacy please? 

Also I note in the 2019 annual report there were 13000 calls to the helpline and 1/3 of those calls were for a breast care nurse so I would like your comments on that and the recent decisions that were made.  I don't understand how it can now be said that the nurses for calls are not needed if 1/3 of the calls went to the nurses. 

Please don't let bnca become about jobs for those internally rather than services for members. Sometimes charities loose their way when members stop being front and centre. 

[email protected],
JUst a few quick words, I will let those more eloquent than I speak for themselves.
I am a Metastatic Breast Woman, and have been a member for 7 years, on the occasions that I have rung and spoken to bcna telephone support people, of which Rosie Brown, now longer there and Giovanna now no longer there, I was able to speak freely at all times mentioning chemotherapy drugs, symptoms and side effects and knew that those two ladies in particular knew exactly what I was talking about both Rosie and Giovanna were aware of and made available to me clinical trials that were open and those that would be opening, I am pretty certain that if I rang now there would not be anyone there who could help me in that regard, when I did ring about two weeks ago I was advised to ring the cancer council, my need at that time was not for specific information, it was purely to speak to a caring and compassionate person regarding what was happening with me regarding the anxiety in my life, when I realized that the person I was speaking to  was not a cancer nurse I clammed up and did not feel secure in, that, persons knowledge of metastatic breast cancer was at a level I was comfortable with.All of the comments thus far are valid and worthy of discussion, however you will have to read all of the above posts to get the gist of what is being said. 
Its a sad and sorry situation that bcna now finds itself in, do I now ring the McGrath Foundation who have 2 very competent telephone Breast Care Nurses available 5 days a week, or the Cancer Council, if thats the case, why would I want or need to ring bcna for information, I have long been an advocate of BCNA and they have been very good to me in the past, I was invited to come to Melbourne to do a video about Metastatic Breast Cancer, this was via Danielle Spence, now no longer with bcna, I was invited to a bcna reception at government house some years ago as well, I also wrote and gave to Danielle Spence a letter for Greg Hunt when she had a meeting with him in Canberra, again some years ago, this was regarding bcnas participation in trying to get palbociclib made available to Australian women, I must also add that Giovanna also represented the metastatic breast care women with passion and dignity,I must also add Rosie Browns name , in that she was the go to person for my time in melbourne 
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All I can add is where to from here for bcna?

wendy55