About the service
The neuro-oncology service at The James Cook University Hospital is a regional specialist service which provides care for patients with benign (non-cancerous) and malignant (cancerous) brain and central nervous tumours.
The service covers patients residing from South Durham in the north to Thirsk in the south and Whitby in the east and is supported by the neuro-surgical service with its own high dependency unit (HDU), a specialist oncological service and a dedicated neuro-rehabilitation unit.
Diagnosing and treating a primary brain or CNS (central nervous system) tumour is complex and requires a team of experts; this team is called a multi-disciplinary team (MDT).
The group of experts meet on a weekly basis every Wednesday morning to discuss and review each individual patient’s care. This ensures that every patient has input from all available experts, who collectively devise the best treatment plan.
Members of the MDT will advise on tests to determine the type of tumour and determine which treatment will be most effective for each individual case. Once all the results of the investigations are known, the hospital consultant will discuss the options and treatment plan in detail with each patient.
The team understands that it is important that our patients are aware what their treatment involves and are encouraged to ask questions to clarify anything about their care plan.
Patients are given written information about their diagnosis and treatment to support the discussions that they have with members of the MDT and are encouraged to bring a relative or friend with them to clinic, as this can help people remember what has been discussed, as well as providing support.
The service cares for patients from diagnosis and then with life-long follow up.