Oncology Facilities

For chemotherapy:

In January 1996, the new chemotherapy suite and day unit was opened. This five-chair, eight-bed unit provides excellent patient facilities. A dedicated pharmacy chemotherapy preparation area is integrated with this facility, providing chemotherapy for the whole hospital.

For radiotherapy:

The Centre offers a full range of radiotherapy equipment for the treatment of cancer. This includes:

• 7 linear accelerators, including 1 TomoTherapy Unit, the first such machine in the NHS in the UK.

• CT machine;

• One orthovoltage unit;

• One simulator;

• A full brachytherapy service for sealed and unsealed source treatments, including a high dose-rate selectron for gynaecological treatments and an iodine suite for thyroid conditions.

Specialist techniques performed by this Centre include

• Total-body irradiation;

• Stereotactic radiotherapy;

• Stereotactic radiosurgery;

• Three-dimensional planning;

• Conformal therapy;

• Treatment of children;

• High Dose Rate Brachytherapy

• Prostate Brachytherapy

• Intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT)

• Image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT)
  
  

Specialist facilities:

A computerised treatment-planning system is used for radiotherapy, which has been recently updated to include full three-dimensional facilities for conformal therapy. This will soon be linked to the computerised radiotherapy equipment, to allow high accuracy of verification and recording of radiotherapy treatment.

The department maintains close links with the Department of Diagnostic Radiology, allowing access to ultrasound, computerised tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) facilities. There is also access to a positron-emission tomography (PET) scanner for research.

Our inpatient facilities:

The Oncology Centre has 46 beds and two side wards available for the administration of unsealed source brachytherapy work.

There is a four-bed Oncology Hostel Unit, which is close to the ward block. These rooms are available for those patients or their relatives who would have to travel considerable distances for treatment at the Centre.

For haemato-oncology: