Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy uses anti-cancer drugs to destroy cancer cells. Sometimes chemotherapy is used alone to treat cancer, but it is often used with other treatments such as surgery, radiotherapy, hormonal therapy or other anti-cancer drugs such as biological therapies. Not all cancers are treated with the same drugs or combination of drugs called regimens.

 

If your doctors offer you day case chemotherapy as part of your treatment plan you will be referred to the chemotherapy day unit. There you will meet the small team of nurses who will look after you throughout your treatment. They will offer you an initial appointment called a ‘pre-chemo chat’ where you will have 1-2-1 designated time to go over what to expect during the treatment, what are the common side effects and how we can manage these.

 

The chemo unit is audited bi-annually monitoring both patient satisfaction and waiting times. These are displayed on this page and in our waiting area and are consistently positive and complimentary about the person centred care.

 

More complex regimens or if you need chemotherapy on the same day as radiotherapy the doctors will refer you to our partner hospitals at UCLH or Royal Free.