Medical oncology and chemotherapy — Canterbury
Medical oncology is a specialised field of medicine that focuses on the use of drugs to treat cancer. The medical oncology department is part of the Canterbury cancer and haematology service. It is one of 2 tertiary centres delivering medical oncology and chemotherapy treatment in the South Island.
Contact us
To contact the medical oncology department:
- phone: 03 364 0020
- email: oncology@cdhb.health.nz
Nurses are available on the phone 24 hours a day.
The service is open Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm.
Where to find us
The medical oncology department is at:
Ground floor
Oncology building
Parkside West
Christchurch Hospital
Riccarton Avenue
Services we provide
We have a dedicated day ward that delivers chemotherapy treatment.
The aim of treatment is to kill cancer cells while doing the least possible damage to normal cells. Drug therapy may be given alone (either before or after surgery) or combined with:
- hormone treatment
- radiation treatment
- biological therapies.
Different combinations of treatment are used for different types of cancer.
Welcome to the Canterbury regional cancer and haematology service — Vimeo (external link)
Referral information
You will usually be referred to the medical oncology service after receiving a diagnosis. A referral can be from a surgeon or a doctor from another speciality after doing tests and investigations.
We do not take referrals from the general public.