News

New cancer treatment centre to open in Nowra

Dec 02, 2020

Nowra Private Hospital is set to open a comprehensive oncology centre as part of a of a wider hospital upgrade, which includes new theatres, upgraded patient rooms and re-designed day surgery unit.

The centre will be staffed by specialist nurses, allied health employees and doctors who will support patients through their cancer treatment journey.

Private patients needing chemotherapy, infusions and transfusions have previously had to travel to Wollongong for treatment at a private facility.

Nowra Private Hospital CEO Prue Buist said the new service would assist local patients: “Going through cancer treatment is hard enough without the additional stress and inconvenience of needing to travel to access this service. We are looking forward to being able to treat patients close to their homes and it also makes sense that patients can see their specialist and then receive treatment at the same location.”

Associate Professor Ali Tafreshi, medical oncologist, will coordinate the operation of the centre.

“We are extremely grateful to be able to provide state of the art cancer treatments to our patients locally. Patients are going to receive personalised comprehensive treatment at Nowra Private Hospital. We can offer all available cancer treatments including immunotherapy to our patients. Our breast cancer patients will also have access to a dedicated specialist breast care nurse.”

Nurse unit manager Sonia Smith said it was a privilege to lead a team of highly skilled oncology nurses:

“Our mission is to improve the quality of life of cancer patients, carers and their families by advancing the understanding, diagnosis, treatment, cure and prevention of the disease.”

“The nature and level of our care goes far beyond chemotherapy because every cancer diagnosis is different and personal. Our compassionate, highly competent staff treat all our patients as unique individuals.”

The Centre is a day unit primarily providing the administration of chemotherapy, immunotherapy, blood transfusions and other infusions such as iron.