Current totals
| Total raised: |
$257,274.08 |
| Number of participants: |
1550 |
Facilities
The Royal Melbourne Hospital departments of Clinical Haematology and Medical Oncology are internationally renowned for excellence in patient care and cancer research. Each day, approximately 46 patients from all over Victoria and some from interstate use our services.
RMH Department of Clinical Haematology
The Royal Melbourne Hospital Department of Clinical Haematology is a major centre for the treatment of leukaemia, myeloma, lymphoma and other haematological malignancies. It has the largest catchment of heamatology patients in the state.
It is one of two services in Victoria that undertakes bone marrow transplants and celebrates 23 years of bone marrow transplantation in 2010. Our staff will undertake more than 75 bone marrow transplants this year (that’s 1-2 patient transplants every week). Since the unit opened 23 years ago it has conducted more than 1620 Bone Marrow Transplants.
RMH Department of Medical Oncology
The Royal Melbourne Hospital Department of Medical Oncology provides care for patients with solid tumours including: breast, lung, prostate, gastro-intestinal, colorectal, brain and urological cancers.
The service has an international reputation for clinical trials ranging from early phase studies of experimental therapies to participation in multinational Phase III studies.
The two units are very closely aligned and share many resources including inpatient wards, day chemotherapy wards and other infrastructure.
Professor Jeff Szer and Professor Mark Rosenthal lead the Clinical Haematology and Medical Oncology Units respectively.
Wards
There are three wards for patients with cancer at The Royal Melbourne Hospital.
5W Day centre for outpatient chemotherapy and other treatments. Each day, staff in 5W treat an average of 35 - 40 patients
5N Haematology and Medical Oncology inpatient ward. About 80 patients per month are treated in 5N and often spend up to 3 4 weeks at a time in the ward receiving treatment
5E Bone Marrow Transplant ward. Our staff will undertake more than 75 bone marrow transplants this year (thats 1-2 patient transplants every week).
Ward 5 West provides a Monday to Friday day unit service for Oncology, haematology and Bone Marrow Transplant patients. We see an average of 35 - 40 patients a day. We deliver chemotherapy and biological modifer treatments as well as providing supportive care including monitoring, central access device care and blood product support. We also have an apheresis unit which is responsible for stem cell collection as well as therapeutic procedures including red cell exchange and plasmapheresis. Our unit is highly involved in research trials with large interaction with our two nurse research teams.
Ward 5 North is a 20 bed inpatient unit providing specialised cancer care services to medical oncology and clinical haematology patients. We average 80 admissions per month and often have patients for up to 3 4 weeks at a time whilst they undergo chemotherapy treatment and supportive care. Our patients journey is long and at times there are setbacks and hardships. However, there is a certain humility that comes with caring for such patients and we draw inspiration from their experience overcoming such adversity.
Ward 5 East is an 8 bed ward with an additional bed for urgent transplants. Patients are confined to their room to control infection and generally stay for 4 6 months. However people who have had a cord transplant will stay indefinitely (the ward currently has a patient who has been there for 7 months and will stay indefinitely).
About
The Royal Melbourne Hospital is the oldest hospital in Victoria, Australia, built just prior to the gold rush era that led to a boom in Melbourne's population. RMH City Campus first began as The Melbourne Hospital in 1848 and RMH Royal Park Campus as the Immigrants' Aid Society in 1853.
The Royal Melbourne Hospital is a privileged member of Melbourne's world-leading Parkville Precinct, and enjoys strong relationships with many of the city's major universities and research institutes.
There are a number of exciting developments underway, including the co-location of the new Royal Women's Hospital at the RMH City Campus site, the development of integrated cancer services and joint projects with community providers to improve service delivery to the communities we serve.