The Children's Hospital at Westmead

The Oncology Unit

The Oncology Unit treats children with childhood cancer and children requiring stem cell transplantation to cure other conditions.

Unit provides a number of services, caring for the child from diagnosis, through treatment and long term follow up. This is achieved through a combination of inpatient, outpatient, and community care. The treatment plan for a child with cancer goes over months, sometimes years, so it is important to provide the care in the most family friendly way with hospitalisation seen as a last resort.The unit provides 

• Prescription and administration of chemotherapy and other drugs;
• Treatment of the side effects of cancer and its therapies, including neutropenia, sepsis, malnutrition, and pain;
• Supportive therapy during treatment of cancer, including administration of blood products;
• Psychological and emotional care;
• Community and outreach services;
• Stem cell harvest and stem cell transplantation.

Each year, the unit cares for over 150 newly diagnosed cancer patients. Each week, there are over 250 outpatient visits to our clinic making it one of the busiest paediatric oncology units in the country. The Oncology Unit is a leader in the field of childhood cancer, in designing and implementing new and more effective treatment.

The extensive oncology research program is dedicated to increasing cure rates amongst children with cancer impacting directly on our treatment here and internationally. Our researchers are constantly striving to identify a cure with survival rates significantly improving over the last 25 years.

For more information on these services please click on the links below:

The Child Protection Unit

Paediatric Intensive Care

The Oncology Unit

Homelessness - Adolescent Medicine

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