The new Oncology Centre at St Vincent’s Private Hospital Toowoomba is a 12-chair oncology unit with a highly experienced team of cancer care specialist doctors and support staff including experienced oncology-trained nurses forming a comprehensive and multi-disciplinary approach to treatment. 

With almost one-in-two Australians facing a cancer diagnosis in their lifetime – and with rural and regional patients facing challenges with timely diagnosis and treatment by cancer specialists – the new centre is a much-needed and vital part of health care for local residents.

St Vincent’s Private Hospital (Queensland) CEO, Oli Steele, says the centre will provide access to surgical oncology, medical oncology and haematology services, guided by St Vincent’s surgeons, physicians and supportive care teams.

“This integrated approach ensures seamless care from diagnosis and treatment through to recovery, and palliative and supportive care as needed,” says Mr Steele.

“The centre will perform chemotherapy and day infusions providing gold standard care for patients to receive medication, fluids or blood products for neurological conditions, autoimmune diseases and iron infusions, as well as targeted therapy – where appropriate – for some cancers.”

Mr Steele says the opening of the Oncology Centre is part of an overall strategy by St Vincent’s to expand services at its Toowoomba private hospital.

The opening of the centre consolidates and enhances St Vincent’s expertise in oncology and cancer care with a team of highly experienced staff working within the centre alongside the various specialists. That expertise covers various cancers including breast, colorectal, prostate, gynaecological, lung, head and neck, and skin cancer.

The team includes breast care surgeons; colorectal specialists; urologists; head and neck specialists; medical oncologists and melanoma specialists, as well as Queensland X-Ray which is onsite at St Vincent’s.

St Vincent’s Oncology Centre Medical Oncologist, Dr Natacha Sorour, has lived and worked in the region for 30 years and has been providing care to local patients, initially as a Consultant Physician at Toowoomba Hospital. After training as a specialist oncologist, she was appointed Director of Medical Oncology at Toowoomba Hospital from 2010 until 2015, before commencing in private practice.

“Nobody ever wants to get a cancer diagnosis but the sad reality is that many people do. But people in the Darling Downs region can be reassured that the St Vincent’s Oncology Centre will provide a holistic, gold standard service which is the equivalent of treatment and care that people would receive in many major capital city hospitals,” she says.  

“One of the challenges for people in rural and regional areas is the access to primary health care and the deteriorating availability of GP services and access to public health means that far too often a cancer diagnosis happens later than we would like.

“So instead of early intervention and catching something when it’s Stage 1, the patient might not receive a diagnosis and get access to a cancer care specialist until it’s Stage 3 or 4 which means that the treatment outcome can be less than optimal and the treatment sometimes has to be more aggressive.” 

St Vincent’s also offers palliative care – both in the hospital and at home – in Toowoomba, focussing on optimising quality of life for people with life-limiting illness by providing physical, emotional and psychosocial support. 

The first St Vincent’s Oncology Centre patients will be treated in the week of Monday, 23 February.

Media Contact: 
Ian Eckersley
St Vincent’s Private Hospital Toowoomba Media Manager
0432 754 897
ian.eckersley@svha.org.au