Children's cancer patient information

Find out what to expect when you access our children's cancer services.

Before your appointment

All patients will be seen within two weeks of their referral. Parents/caregivers should attend all appointments with their children. 

Please remember to bring your child’s ‘red book’ to your appointment and to check your appointment letter for anything specific you have been asked to take with you. In addition, it would be helpful if you could bring the following:

• your full address and telephone number(s)
• your appointment card and appointment letter
• your GP's name and address
• a list of questions you may want to ask your consultant
• patients already on treatment need to bring their hand-held record book
• a list of medications (or the medications) that your child is currently on

During your appointment

Your first appointment with us will take approximately 40 to 60 minutes. Follow-up appointments usually take 20 minutes.

If your child has been referred by your GP as an urgent two week wait referral, they will be seen by a consultant for a full clinical assessment and may undergo blood tests and other investigations such as an x-ray or ultrasound on the same day.

If your child is undergoing treatment for cancer and has been referred to our unit for shared care, he or she will be seen in the paediatric oncology clinic or paediatric haematology day care unit, depending on the type of treatment they are having. Your child will be seen by the lead consultant for paediatric oncology and a specialist nurse for an assessment before their treatment.

Please note that we are a teaching hospital, so medical students may be present for some appointments. If you do not wish to have them in the room please let the nurse or doctor know and the students will be asked to step outside.

After your appointment

You will be given a contact number for the clinical nurse specialist to be able to receive results over the telephone if you so wish. We will book a follow-up appointment if necessary, before leaving the clinic area.

Macmillan navigators

As part of the Macmillan Cancer Support and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust partnership, we’ve introduced the Macmillan cancer navigators service.

Macmillan navigators offer a single phone contact for all cancer patients. They can help with booking appointments, accessing local support services and finding answers to any questions. Please call the Macmillan navigators team with any questions you have about your cancer care. Click here to learn more.