Haematology - Inpatient Ward One of the main aims of the Cancer Care and Haematology Unit is to keep patients living at home whilst they are receiving treatment. Unfortunately, there are still occasions when the safest place for patients is in hospital, either because they need round-the-clock intensive nursing, or because they are receiving a complex treatment regime which can’t sensibly be given at home. In 1987, the first specialist haematology beds were opened at Stoke Mandeville hospital, at a time when June Wilson was the ward sister, and Dr Chris Pitcher, Dr Sheila Sheerin and Dr Ann-Marie O’Hea the consultant haematologists. June continues as a trustee of the CCHF following her retirement from nursing and remains our major fundraiser and inspiration. Two isolation rooms with en-suite bathrooms were opened on ward 1X with access to medical beds on the main ward there. A specialist team of nurses was built up and these worked closely with the CCHU nurses. From October 3rd 2005 this care is being provided in a specialist haematology unit in ward 5X at Wycombe hospital which will be providing inpatient care for all the patients served by the combined Buckinghamshire NHS trust. The treatment of patients with haematological conditions, particularly leukaemia and lymphoma, has become very specialised and intensive in recent years and it is now recommended that inpatient treatment should take place in wards serving populations of around 500,000 so that the correct level of expertise, especially among the nursing staff, can be built up and maintained. The new haematology inpatient unit, which opened on 3rd October 2005, has six isolation rooms with en-suite bathrooms and the use of six further beds on the medical ward. Patients are cared for by a round-the-clock rota of the haematology consultants from Stoke Mandeville and Wycombe hospitals. Outpatient visits and day care for patients local to Aylesbury, including chemotherapy, continue here in the Cancer Care and Haematology Unit at Stoke Mandeville Hospital as before. The trustees of the CCHF are funding a training post which will enable the nurses from the new ward to come and work alongside the staff in the treatment area there, improve their chemotherapy skills and meet some of the Aylesbury patients in an outpatient setting so that they may already know some of the patients should they be admitted. Our aim is to help integrate the out and inpatient service into one which offers the best care in the most appropriate setting. Buckinghamshire Hospitals NHS Trust http://www.buckshospitals.nhs.uk/

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