News stories

The Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham (QEHB) Oncology Treatment Unit will move to a newly renovated suite on Saturday 12 March 2022, allowing specialists to provide anti-cancer treatment such as immunotherapy and chemotherapy for to up to 100 patients each day. The Infusions Suite which provides medications intravenously for a range of conditions as part of Division 1a (Ambulatory Care) will also move.

Opening on Monday 14 March 2022 on the first floor in East Block, Heritage Building; the new Oncology Treatment Suite (as it will be renamed) will find its permanent home on East 1a and will continue to provide patients vital treatment for their cancer. The Infusions Suite will be located on the other side of East Block in East 1b.

The moves for both new suites will take place on Saturday 12 March 2022 while the units are closed to patients.

The Oncology Treatment Suite was originally relocated to the lower ground floor of East Block during the early part of the pandemic to allow the Oncology team to safely maintain as much immunotherapy and chemotherapy as possible. Now a new unit for oncology day patients has been designed specifically with the needs of patients in mind.

With a grant from University Hospitals Birmingham Charity, the Oncology Treatment Suite will have many of the added extras that help patients undergoing treatment to feel more at ease at an anxious and worrying time for them.

Patients aged 16-25 will also find a separate and bespoke area within the Oncology Treatment Suite, providing a more relaxed environment for younger people.

Oncology Treatment Suite Manager, Andrea Fernyhough, said: “We’re very proud of the work that we do, and we’re even more proud of the work that has gone into creating this new unit for our patients.

“The new unit will provide brighter and purposefully-designed spaces to deliver anti-cancer treatments to those in need of it.

“We have always aimed to provide the highest possible standard of care to our patients, even throughout the difficulties of the pandemic. The new unit will help us to deliver the best possible outcomes or patients and we hope they will feel more at ease in the new unit through what is a difficult and uncertain time them.”

Deputy Director of Nursing for Division 5, Emma Steele, said: “The new QEHB Oncology Treatment Suite will be a fantastic addition to our oncology facilities and one that patients, and our colleagues on the unit, will find both comfortable and welcoming.

“A huge thank you must go to the contractors at Tilbury Douglas who continue to work hard to complete the unit, alongside our estates team, facilities, pharmacy, resuscitation service, medical engineering, IT Services and logistics and very many more. We are also very grateful to UHB Charities who have supported us by funding additional wall art and furniture to make the space even more appealing.

“This new unit would not be possible without all of your hard work.”

The unit provides day-case chemotherapy and supportive treatments, a dedicated young persons’ space, a PICC line service, and receives new patients for assessment.

Lesley Golby, Manager for the Infusions Suite is similarly impressed with the new facilities for patients undergoing infusions for their condition: “The new space will help to make our patients feel more at home as they receive important medications that help to keep them well and avoid being admitted to stay overnight in the hospital.”

All patients with appointments from Monday 14 March 2022 onwards have been informed in their appointment letters, and at their appointments.

Patients for both units should still arrive to the same entrance as they use already, however to reflect the growing clinical use of East Block, the day unit entrance is now called ‘East Entrance – Heritage Building’. The new QEHB Oncology Treatment Suite will be found on the first floor in East 1a and the Infusions Suite will be found in East 1b.