Day Therapy

Day Therapy at Peter Mac includes:

• chemotherapy
• medical services
• transfusions
• apheresis services
• clinical trials.

Day Therapy is located on level 3 at Peter Mac Melbourne. When you come to Peter Mac for treatment in Day Therapy there is no need to present to the Welcome Lounge for admission; you can go directly to Day Therapy.

Chemotherapy 

The Chemotherapy Service is a 38-chair service that provides care for all tumour streams including:

• bone and soft tissues
• brain and spine
• breast
• colorectal
• gynae-oncology
• haematology
• lung
• skin and melanoma
• upper gastrointestinal
• uro-oncology

In our Chemotherapy Service a variety of chemotherapy, immunotherapy and other medications are given via a number of different routes depending on your type of cancer and treatment plan. These routes include into a vein (intravenous ), into a muscle (intramuscular), into the fatty layer of tissue just under your skin (subcutaneous) and into your spinal canal (intrathecal).

If you have not had chemotherapy in the past five years, you will be given "ChemoEd". ChemoEd is a one-on-one session between you and a nurse. Your chemo nurse will tell you all you need to know about your treatment so you can get a better understanding of what chemotherapy is and how it works. It also teaches you the best ways to manage the common side effects of chemo. You can also ask friends, family or your carer to take part.

Find out more about chemotherapy. 

Medical 

The Medical Service has 14 chairs and is open from 8 am to 7 pm. This unit helps you manage and control your symptoms while you are having treatment. It also cares for unwell cancer patients who have come to Peter Mac via outpatient clinics or the Royal Melbourne or Royal Women's hospitals.

Many of the people we care for have become unexpectedly sick during their treatment, but we also have some planned activities. These include providing non-cytotoxic infusions (those that are safe for living cells) and caring for patients after a bone marrow transplant.

Apheresis

The Apheresis Service has eight chairs and is open from 8 am to 5 pm, with a 24 hour on-call service. Apheresis is the process of temporarily removing blood from your veins and separating it into different layers using a high-speed spinning machine called a centrifuge. This allows us to take away parts of your blood to treat your cancer symptoms. Although apheresis is mostly used to treat haematology patients, there are a large number of solid tumour stream, neurology and renal patients who are treated here, in addition to a significant number of blood-product donors.

Apheresis provides a 24-hour on-call service for emergency procedures as well as coordinating patients and donors out of hours. Apheresis at Peter Mac also supports the Royal Children’s Hospital, where a therapeutic procedure known as ECP is performed for children who need this specialised treatment.

Find out more about apheresis. 

Transfusion

Transfusion is often an important part of managing anaemia and thrombocytopaenia, which can occur as a consequence of your treatment. The Transfusion Unit has six chairs and specialises in providing all outpatient blood products to Peter Mac patients.

The Transfusion Unit also administers blood products for chronic disorders such as myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and disease-related or treatment-induced hypogammaglobulinaemia. Common blood products administered within the transfusion lounge include packed red blood cells (PRBCS), platelets, plasma products including albumin, cryoprecipitate (or fresh frozen plasma) and intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG).

Clinical trials

The Clinical Trials Unit has six chairs and provides overnight beds if you need 24/7 monitoring and observation. This unit also provides care if you are undergoing a phase 1 or high-risk clinical trial.

Find out more about clinical trials. 

Hours of operation

Monday to Friday

Chemotherapy - 08:00am - 07:00pm

Medical assessment - 08:00am - 07:00pm

Clinical trials - 08:00am - 04:30pm

Tranfusion - 08:00am - 04:30pm

Apheresis - 08:00am - 05:00pm (for 24 hour on call service contact the main hospital switch board)

Location

Day Therapy

Level 3

Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre

305 Grattan Steet

Melbourne VIC 3000

Contact

Day Therapy

Phone: 03 8559 5330